Harry Potter and the Time of Trials
by Shalli
Summary: Trials come in all shapes and sizes and Harry’s going to have to deal with a lot on them in his sixth year. Join him as he represses, burns books, plays Quidditch and does his homework, all while having to foil Voldemort’s plans for immortality. PS-Oo
1. A New Resolution Revised!

_Disclaimer: All you fan-fic readers know the drill by now. I'm not J.K so I obviously don't own Harry Potter (much as I'd like to), BUT I do own this plot. Well, the bits of it that the voices in my head aren't dictating...._

_A/N: Thanks to Jner for the betaing._

**Harry Potter and the Time of Trials**

**Chapter 1: A New Resolution**

Harry Potter woke up with a start, soaked in sweat, his bright green eyes open wide. His jaw ached with the tension of not crying out and he had to consciously relax it before he was able to open his mouth to gulp in desperately needed air. The nightmare had been one of the worst yet. Unwillingly, he watched it flash through his mind.

_He was back at the Ministry of Magic, but this time there was a crucial difference: he was possessed by Voldemort from the start. It was he, Harry, who used the strange slashing wand movement that took down Hermione. It was he who kicked Neville in the face, breaking his nose and wand with one swift move. It was he who incapacitated Ron with the intoxicating hex and it was he who grabbed Ginny in the planet room and blew up Pluto, breaking her ankle in the process. It was he who sent Luna crashing into a desk. It was he who sent the brain flying to Ron, directing it to take hold of his friend's arms. It was he who subjected Neville to the Cruciatus Curse. But the worst thing about the situation was that none of them seemed to notice that it was Harry attacking them, that there was no one else there. One by one they all fell, still trying to fight off their invisible assailants; still trying to help Harry. The rescue team from the Order arrived, just as they had only a few weeks ago, bursting into the room with flair, joining the battle against a foe that wasn't there and although he tried to stop himself, he turned on them at Voldemort's command. Harry quickly felled Mad-Eye Moody and Tonks before he heard his godfather taunting his cousin, addressing his jeers to the empty space before him as though Bellatrix were present. Sirius didn't see Harry raise his wand to point it at him. He didn't hear Harry's clear recitation of the incantation. He completely missed the beam of light streaking towards him. But unlike the others he felt the impact, and the direction the curse had come from. As he fell through the veil in slow motion he turned to look at Harry, disappointment dominating his expression, until he was gone from sight. All Harry could hear was Voldemort laughing inside his mind..._

It was only in his dreams that Harry was unable to control his fear of possession. The brief minutes of his possession in the Ministry of Magic just weeks ago, had been the worst in his entire life. Worse even, than watching Sirius fall only moments before. Trembling from the strain, Harry managed to push the memory of this latest dream to the far reaches of his mind. Enough was enough. He didn't think he could take much more of this. What with his grief and the constant tiredness brought on by sleep that did not bring rest, as well as the constant worry that he might involuntarily cry out and give Dudley more ammunition to use against him, he was physically and mentally wreaked. It was time to try Occlumency again. If his Potions OWL had taught him anything, it was that trying something taught by _that_ professor, when not in the same room as him, was infinitely easier than with Snape breathing down his neck.

* * *

A week passed without much success. No matter how he tried, memories and thoughts kept slipping past his efforts to clear his mind. His dreams had lost some of their energy-draining impact, but not enough for Harry to get a proper night's rest. Still, he was determined not to give up, and so he kept on trying, sure that if he tried hard enough, he would succeed.

He could hear the Dursleys moving around, getting ready for bed. Finally they quieted down, and a low rumbling started. It could have been easily interpreted as the sound of the continental plates grinding against one another, but was, in fact, his elephantine cousin Dudley, snoring in the next room. Sure that he would not be disturbed anymore that night, Harry once again sat on his bed and tried to empty his mind. He had actually managed to push nearly every image out of his head when it occurred to him how morbidly funny it was that his memory of events associated with Sirius falling through the veil, had been the only thing capable of making him work at Occlumency. Unable to control himself he began to laugh. It was not a happy sound, but it somehow relieved much of the tension within him. When Harry finally managed to stop - helped along by some loud thumps and angry comments sent his way by his irritated uncle - he found it much easier to empty his mind before he allowed himself to lie down and sleep.

* * *

Harry's success repeated itself and he was once again able to find some refuge in sleep. He was even surprised to find that his waking moments had some improvement brought to them as well. When Harry had first arrived back at number four Privet Drive, he had thought that he would never get over the terrible events and revelations of the previous year. His grief for Sirius had throbbed within his mind, regardless of how he tried to ignore it. Not only this, but the new insight into his parents' lives had Harry questioning all that he had ever been told about them. Disappointment and disillusionment, especially in his father, had caused him to begin doubting everything and given him a new understanding of Snape... even if it didn't make him like him any better. But the thing that really bothered Harry was Dumbledore. Dumbledore who claimed that his love for Harry had made him abandon him, lock him away in a place he hated without any explanation, and hide the truth. That Dumbledore knew the reason why Harry's life was as it was, yet had waited so long before letting Harry know about it – about the nightmare destiny that awaited him.

The prophecy.

Harry, finally knew why Voldemort was so anxious to kill him. He finally understood why his parents had died. In a way he could even understand why Dumbledore was so anxious to protect him, to hide him away from harm (not that he seemed to be able to get away from it) because, or so the prophecy said, the fate of the world rested firmly on Harry's shoulders... quite literally. If Harry died, the world's hope died with him, not because Harry was the Boy Who Lived, but because Harry, and Harry alone, could defeat Voldemort.

The problem with the prophecy was that there was only really enough stated to make it undeniable that Harry and Voldemort were the two spoken of and the two possible outcomes. It said nothing of how Harry would die or defeat Voldemort, not even a clue. All in all, Harry found it frustrating to the extreme.

Still, Harry did not want to die, both for his own sake and because of what his death would mean for the wizarding world at large. And for this reason he decided one morning, not long after his initial success with Occlumency, that it was time to make a new resolution for his next year. He thought back over the past year. He had spent so much of it angry, angry at his friends, angry at people unwilling to listen to the truth, angry at Dumbledore, angry at the world. He had lost his temper, blown up at his friends, and had lashed out with both words and his fists: and what had it gained him? Nothing. Nothing but trouble. Getting frustrated at Umbridge because she refused to listen to the truth had led to detentions, pain, a new scar, and irritating his Quidditch Captain, Angelina Johnson. Attacking Malfoy after the Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match had led to a lifetime Quidditch ban and the internment of his prized Firebolt. The pattern repeated over and over again throughout the year.

It was his ill-fated rescue mission that bothered him the most about his actions in the past year. So many chances had gone by where the events that unfolded could have been prevented. If he had not been so worried about leading Sirius into danger he might have opened the package he had been given at the end of the Christmas holidays. If he hadn't been caught up in events at school he might have remembered the package sooner when he had needed to contact his godfather. If he had not believed the lying traitor Kreacher, if he had listened to some of the advice of Hermione (although not all, her nearly disastrous plan to escape Umbridge did seem to be proof that Hermione wasn't _always_ right). He needed to become more informed, to have a better grasp of the situation and a better ability to protect himself and others. Harry knew what he had to do: it was time to get in touch with Professor McGonagall. He needed to be prepared, and McGonagall had sworn that she would aid him in becoming an Auror. He knew she would be able to help him in his preparations.

* * *

Hedwig had come back that night with a strange owl, and between them, there had been what amounted to a mound of parchment. When he took it off them and put it on his bed for review Harry felt as though McGonagall had outdone herself. There were essays to help him prepare for the sixth year classes he hoped to get into as well as book lists with a _Flourish and Blotts_ Owl Order form so he could buy the books he wanted without several trips to Diagon Alley. She had somehow even convinced Snape to assign him some work for Potions, a fact which had surprised Harry as he had not thought that Snape would have anything to do with him after the pensive incident. Harry was glad of the book list after seeing his potion essay; Snape had set a particularly long essay on some of the most obscure potions Harry had ever heard of, as well as four others that he hadn't. As a new Defence against the Dark Arts Professor hadn't been hired yet, the list for that subject covered a wide spectrum, including books on defensive and offensive spells, charms and hexes.

Professor McGonagall also sent something Harry hadn't asked for - a copy of the official retraction of his Quidditch Ban. Harry was unsure how he felt about it, so he stuffed it down in the bottom of his trunk and did his best to forget about it. Luckily the work he had been sent helped.

The work was hard, but Harry welcomed it. It allowed him to take his mind off everything that had been bothering him. It made his time at Privet Drive bearable. And most importantly it gave him direction, a sense of knowing where he was, where he was going and how he was going to get there... something that had been missing ever since he had learnt of the prophecy.

* * *

"Boy," Uncle Vernon started, his face inches from Harry's own. "We are going out. And this house had better be in one piece when we return." Giving Harry one last suspicious look from his small eyes, he turned away and ushered Aunt Petunia and Dudley out of the house, closing the door firmly behind him. Harry waited, half expecting to hear the key turn in the lock, but all that he heard was the group walking toward Uncle Vernon's new Japanese car. He sighed in relief and headed back up the hall to the kitchen.

The Dursleys were off shopping for some new boxing equipment for Dudley, a present to congratulate him on his excellent performance at a recent inter-school competition, in where he had won first place for his division. As Harry fixed himself a sandwich, he reflected, with a small amount of amusement, that this had to be the first time that his Aunt and Uncle were justifiably proud of his cousin. Taking advantage of the peace and quiet of having a Dursley-free house, Harry wandered into the lounge room to see if there was anything on the television while leisurely eating his lunch. As he settled onto the sofa and reached for the remote, he heard the doorbell ring. With a small sigh, he put the remains of his sandwich aside, pushed himself out of the comfort of the seat and headed to the front hall to answer the door.

As he approached the door he could hear voices talking on the other side.

"Are you sure this is his house?" a familiar voice asked in a doubtful tone.

"Of course I am," a second familiar voice behind the door indignantly answered. "Remember I came here with the twins just before second year. Don't you remember how angry Mum was that we took the car, Dad?"

Ron, Harry realised. Ron and his father were here. Mr Weasley had been over to his house before, but he had come via the Floo network and never actually set foot out of the lounge room, so he didn't know what the house looked like. His ignorance also meant that he had never been part of the watch on Harry during both the previous and current summer holidays. Harry quickened his pace and was about to fling open the door, before he remembered his lessons from last year. He drew his wand and opened the door with some caution.

"Harry!" Ron greeted him with a cheery grin. "We're here to rescue you!"

Harry was almost completely satisfied that these people were Ron Weasley, one of his best friends, and Ron's father, Arthur Weasley. But to be on the safe side he decided to remain cautious until he was absolutely sure. Careful to keep his wand at the ready he tried to think of a way to identify Ron for sure. "Ron?" he asked after a few seconds, "why were you in the hospital wing on the night Hermione, Neville and I got detention and lost one hundred and fifty house points in first year?"

Ron's grin faltered before he gave Harry a canny look and with a sideways glance at his father, answered the question. "I had that infection in my hand from being bitten by Norbert."

Harry relaxed his grip on his wand and put it away before opening the door completely and greeting Ron properly. "Rescue me? Does that mean I can go now? Where are we going?" It hadn't been too bad this summer, with Uncle Vernon even putting up with the regular owls going through the house. Not that he'd had much choice in the matter, after the threats the Order had piled on him at Kings Cross. But the Dursleys couldn't disguise the innate dislike they had for Harry and all who were like him. He just hoped he wasn't going to be Grimmauld Place again. Harry didn't think that even the workload he had shouldered for the holidays would be enough to get him through a stay at the Black house without Sirius.

As Ron and Mr Weasley came in Harry took a precautionary look around the street and front yard. Near the garden wall he noticed something. The grass was flattened in an odd pattern as though it were under something, yet there was nothing there to be seen. He continued to scan the garden as though he had not noticed anything before turning back towards his visitors.

"Who's on duty today?" Harry asked Mr Weasley quietly.

"I think Moody is at the moment, Harry."

Harry nodded. "Thought so," he acknowledged before reaching behind the door, grabbing a small balloon filled with flour and hurling it toward where he knew his watcher to be. It impacted with a dull thud and exploded, filling the air with a fine white powder that revealed the shape of Moody under his invisibility cloak. "Better luck next time!" he called to the shape before allowing himself a small smile as he closed the door behind him.

Ron, who had watched the whole event clapped him of the back. "Good throw, Harry. How did you know he was there?"

"Started looking a few days into the holidays," Harry led the way back to the lounge room as he explained. "Figured that as they had been here last year they'd be back again this year. It's not that hard if you know they're there somewhere." He shrugged, "anyway, I figure it's good practice... spot the invisible enemy and all that. I've been keeping a supply of flour bombs near both doors, my bedroom window and in my bag. But back to the important stuff," he took a breath – this was after all the crux of the point. "You're here to rescue me?"

----------------

_Shall I shut up now?_

_A/N: OotP stuff from chapter 35, Beyond the Veil. Norbert is from PS Chapter 14: Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback. My tag line for this, and every later chapter (which you may recognise is linked to my author name - that's a clue), has been nicked from a really good book, which I challenge any reader to name - title, author, and the character it is irrevocably associated with. Being poor (another reason I suspect I don't own Harry Potter), I'm willing to offer my respect as a prize. ;)_


	2. An Unexpected Complication

**Chapter 2: An Unexpected Complication**

The first thing that Harry noticed when he arrived at the Burrow was how the tension, which had been ever present with him throughout his stay with the Dursleys, seemed to lessen almost immediately. It was wonderful the way staying with the Weasleys allowed him to forgetâ€ things. Following Mr Weasley into the house, he and Ron stopped to rest his trunk and Hedwig's cage near the front door before tackling the stairs up to Ron's room.

"I'll let Molly know you're here," Mr Weasley told Harry before heading toward the kitchen.

"What have you got in your trunk, Harry?" Ron asked. "I was going to ask before but I thought I had better wait until Dad wasn't with us. If I didn't know better I'd say it was all of Hermione's books; it's about the same weight." Harry watched Ron heft the trunk for a second to check his guess before putting it back down with a nod of affirmation.

Harry laughed. "You almost got that right. They're my books actually."

He could see Ron struggling to come up with something to say to this surprise announcement when they heard a loud thundering coming down the stairs. "Later," Ron said quickly as they turned to see who was coming.

"Fred, George, it's great to see you!" Harry exclaimed upon seeing the twins emerge from the stairwell. "But how come you aren't at the shop?"

One of the twins, Harry was pretty sure it was George, gave him a conspiratorial wink before answering. "Had to shut up early, didn't we?"

"Yeah," Fred added, before leaning in confidentially. "Mum wanted us all here for a 'Welcome back to the Burrow' dinner for you. She even made Percy leave work early." Ron's frequent letters while Harry had been at Privet Drive had included information that Percy had returned to his family. He was not, however, welcomed back with universal open arms. Several members of the family, Ron included, still viewed him with a certain level of suspicion.

"Where are the others?" Ron asked them.

"Percy's up in his room finishing some paperwork, Mums in the kitchen organising the food, I think I just saw Dad go in to help, and everyone else is down in the field playing Quidditch."

"Hermione is coming over tomorrow," Ron added, apparently for Harry's benefit – although he was already well aware of this. Hermione had written to tell him, and Ron had mentioned it a few times in passing on the trip. It seemed he wasn't the only one to have been made well aware of the information though.

"Thanks for letting us know, Ron..." George started.

"...For the thousandth time this week." The twins shook with silent laughter at Ron's affronted expression before Fred got back to the subject at hand. "Anyway, the field and Quidditch. That's where we're going now that you two are here."

"Bet you're looking forward to playing Quidditch again. I know Fred and I were relieved to have our Quidditch Bans lifted. Got an official copy from the Wizengamot a couple of days ago: wasn't mentioned in the _Prophet_ though. Guess even the co-owners of the most successful new shop in Diagon Alley aren't as interesting as others we could mention."

Harry was mildly surprised to hear that the Quidditch bans had been lifted before he recalled the parchment stashed at the bottom of his trunk. It had arrived more than a couple of days ago though. He hadn't been getting the _Daily Prophet _either. After the last year he really didn't see any use in renewing his subscription. From the way the twins and Ron were looking at him, as well as from past experience, he knew without a doubt that it was he whose Quidditch ban retraction had made the papers.

"Who did it?" Harry asked. "Who got the bans lifted?"

"Who do you think? McGonagall started the push for it to be removed: couldn't keep the Gryffindor star seeker grounded now, could she? And what with Harry Potter being flavour of the month again, the whole wizarding world backed her up. Didn't hurt that Dumbledore has been reinstated as Chief Warlock either. According to Dad, the vote was unanimousâ€ first time in centuries that all the members of the Wizengamot have been able to agree."

"It was all in the _Prophet_. They did a daily update on the whole thing for a week. Don't you read the paper?"

Harry snorted in derision, and they all seemed to understand.

"Well, anyway, hurry up Harry, got to take advantage of the afternoon. And if we're not out of the house soon, Mum'll give us chores. I can't wait to get back on my Cleansweep. It's still the best broom in the family, although with the money Fred and George are raking in, I wouldn't be surprised if they get a couple of really good new brooms themselves." Ron seemed to be barely able to hold in his enthusiasm at the thought. "Maybe even Firebolts! They're still the best brooms on the market."

Harry instantly thought of his Firebolt, still locked up at school. He supposed that McGonagall or Dumbledore would have let him have it back, but hadn't felt up to asking, not to mention that he still didn't think that he could so much as look at Dumbledore. He hadn't been sure that he could even look at the international standard broomstick without being reminded of his godfather in a way he wasn't prepared for, and so it had been left behind when he had boarded the Hogwarts express.

Harry noticed Ron giving him an odd look and quickly whipped on a grin. "Sounds like fun."

"Brilliant! I know you haven't got a broom with you, Harry," Ron told him. "Don't worry though. We've got just the thing in the broomshed."

-------------------------

After stowing Harry's things in Ron's still lurid orange room, the four boys trooped noisily back down the stairs – Harry tried to lighten his step as he passes the closed door to Percy's room, but Fred, seeing him shook his head and shouted "Silencing Charm! He can't hear a thing." "Fred!" Mrs Weasley's voice emanated from the kitchen in a warning tone. "George!" Fred shouted back while his twin sniggered behind him - and through the house. They passed Mrs Weasley in the kitchen, and were held up several minutes while she pointedly scolded the twins and greeted Harry as enthusiastically as ever. She looked as though she wanted to give Harry a big hug but refrained for some reason.

"Just look at you," she said, fussing over Harry. "Don't those Muggles know how to feed a growing boy?" She pursed her lips in annoyance. Harry looked down at himself. He didn't look noticeably thinner than usual – and he certainly hadn't been starving this summer. He felt a small smidgeon of annoyance at his friends' mother; she didn't ever seem to see Harry as capable, didn't seem to realise that he was nearly sixteen. He pushed it away guiltily, she had taken him in again, and she meant well.

When they finally escaped the house they headed straight for the broomshed. The twins opened the plain wooden doors with a flourish and Ron led the way over to where a broom was concealed beneath a red cloth. He gestured for Harry to take it. Harry pulled the cloth off and caught sight of the broom underneath. It was his Firebolt. It had been cleaned up and polished, removing all traces of its enforced stay under lock and key. Harry wasn't sure what to do. On one hand he knew that Ron and the twins expected him to take the broom and go play Quidditch with them. On the other hand, he wasn't sure he would ever be able to ride it again without being compelled to think of Sirius.

"It arrived two days ago." Ron told him expectantly. "We cleaned it up all ready for you coming over. So let's go play Quidditch."

"Tell you what, Ron," he said. "Want to swap? You can use my Firebolt for the game and I'll borrow your Cleansweep. It's only fair, considering the work you put into fixing it back up for me."

Ron didn't appear to suspect Harry of ulterior motives and enthusiastically swapped brooms, before leading the way to the field.

As they approached the field Harry caught sight of three figures swooping along just below the canopy level of the surrounding trees. All had the distinctive red hair of the Weasleys. Bill, easily the tallest of the lot with his lanky build, spotted them approaching first and yelled out a hullo before turning his broom and coming to meet them. Harry saw that Mrs Weasley still hadn't managed to convinced him to cut his hair or stop wearing an earring, although the dragon tooth was gone, replaced by a gold earring in the shape of a phoenix. The phoenix fluttered its golden wings to keep its position under Bill's ear as he came to a quick stop next to Ron.

Following quickly in Bill's wake was a shorter, more solidly built Weasley. Harry hadn't seen Charlie since the Triwizard Tournament, and was surprised to notice that he didn't seem to have any sign of burns. He wondered how long Charlie had been away from the dragons he usually worked with in Romania. Charlie shot Harry a grin as he dove into an almost vertical dive, pulling up just short of the ground in front of Harry and hopping lightly off his broom.

"Nice move," Harry complimented him as he shook the proffered hand in greeting: more evidence that Charlie had been away from dragons for a while presented itself, as, although his hands were as callused as ever, blisters were in short supply.

"Good to see you again Harry, with you here maybe we can have something resembling a game of Quidditch," Charlie said. "I've been wanting to test my old Seeker skills against the Gryffindor star seeker for a while now, ever since I saw you flying against the Hungarian Horntail."

But Harry only absently heard the last part of what Charlie was saying as he had just got a proper look at the final Weasley joining them from the air. It was Ginny. And just seeing her approach jolted something inside Harry. He tried to fight it, but could feel the blood drain from his face as the memory surged and took him over. Pain. Unimaginable pain, fear and the violent cold which came after it. He started to unconsciously shake and the next thing he knew he was on the ground.

"Is it your scar again, Harry?" He heard a worried voice asking him. Ron's long nose came into focus above Harry.

Harry stood up carefully, ignoring the protesting Weasley's crowded around him and said, quite clearly, "I think I'll go lie down for a bit,' before tearing back to the Burrow as though his life depended on it.

-------------

_Shall I shut up now?_

_A/N: Thanks to Jner for the Betaing. If anyone's read the original version of this, they'll be able to see the amazing difference the help has made._


	3. Getting On With It

_Disclaimer: All you fan-fic readers know the drill by now. I'm not J.K so obviously I don't own Harry Potter (much as I'd like to), BUT I do own this plot. Well, the bits of it that the voices in my head aren't dictating...  
  
A/N: First of all I would like to thank my reviewers. I am trying to update every fortnight, but was held up this week by the hope that NNTDA would be fully functional within that time-frame. Oh, well. Maybe crosses fingers the fics will be available there before the next fortnight elapses. With all that in mind, here is chapter three, and I apologise to Kumani in advance for the length of the paragraphs (although I swear they were longer before I cut them down to their current length). R&R._

**Harry Potter and the Time of Trials**

**Chapter 3: Getting on with it**

Harry lay on the bed that had been made up for him in Ron's room. He couldn't understand what had happened. He had been able to face Ginny before, even after the events of the Ministry. What had changed in the few weeks he had been at Privet Drive? Why was it that just the sight of Ginny had locked him into the nightmare memory of being possessed by Voldemort? How did she trigger the memory that he had worked hardest to repress? Then it hit him. He remembered what Ginny had reminded him of back at the Black house during the Christmas holidays.  
  
_"'Well, that was a bit stupid of you,' said Ginny angrily, 'seeing as you don't know anyone but me who's been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels.'"_  
  
Ginny reminded him of being possessed by Voldemort because she had been through a similar experience herself. Except, Harry thought, that she had described being possessed as having blank gaps in her memory when she didn't know what she had been doing. Harry remembered quite clearly his own experience. He remembered the pain, the fear, the lack of self control he had gone through as Voldemort had taken him over. He could remember Voldemort taking control of his, Harry's, voice. Using it to try to goad Dumbledore into killing Harry. He could remember just wanting it all to end, wanting to die.  
  
Harry lay as still as he could trying to push the memories back again, and after half an hour felt that he could once more face the Weasleys, although he wasn't so sure about Ginny.

-------------------------

For all it's air of barely organised chaos, breakfast was a much more relaxed affair than dinner had been the night before. At dinner the Weasleys had watched him like hawks, although by some common consensus none had mentioned what had happened earlier that afternoon. Now, as Harry sat down to his first breakfast at the Weasley's they seemed to have forgotten that it had ever happened. If it wasn't for the initial concerned look that Mrs Weasley had given him as he chose his seat, Harry would have believed that he had imagined the looks he had been given the night before. Still he was pleased that at least one thing last night had gone right. By forcing himself to look at and talk to Ginny after preparing himself carefully, he had been able to exercise some control over the memories she stirred up. It had taken a few attempts before he could look at her without going white and worrying the Weasleys.  
  
Harry couldn't help but feel the happiest that he had been in a long while. Ron had explained the situation to him on the Knight bus, when they were travelling to the Burrow with Mr Weasley. For some, unknown reason Dumbledore had decided that Harry had spent enough time at number four Privet Drive to satisfy the requirements of the ancient protective spell which kept Harry safe from Voldemort while he was away from Hogwarts. Harry reckoned that this was also an effort to make up for his treatment of Harry over the last year; he had actually allowed Harry to stay at the Burrow from the last week of July. He suspected also that this was an important reason behind Bill and Charlie's presence, inconspicuous Order backup to the phenomenal amount of protective spells had been cast so that he could come.  
  
Luckily none of the spells seemed to be inconveniencing the family for the moment. The only reason he was sure they were there was that the twins had not Apparated once since he had come, and just the summer before they had done so for even the most flimsy of reasons. A great sense of relief swept over Harry once again, as it had several times since he had been surprised at the door the day before by Ron and his father. Harry, judging by what Dumbledore had said and his own behaviour during the last few days of semester, had thought that it was extremely unlikely that he would be allowed to leave the Dursleys at all this summer.  
  
As he looked around, soaking in the warmth and liveliness that filled the Weasleys house to the brim he grinned as he noted those who were present. Ron was sitting next to him and while wolfing his food down with his usual gusto was by turn filling Harry in on the latest information on the Chudley Cannons for the upcoming season and surreptitiously checking the time with amusing regularity. The time checking, Harry was sure, was because Hermione was due to arrive by Floo powder at ten o'clock that morning, a 'hole' had been made in the magical protection for a couple of minutes, just enough for Hermione to get through.  
  
Mrs Weasley was bustling back and forth carrying more buttered toast and bacon and other breakfast necessities over to the table in her usual manner. Mr Weasley could only be seen on short occasions when he turned the pages of some papers that he was reading with a distracted air while munching on a piece of toast. Harry wondered what they were about, he was fairly certain that they were to do with the Order of the Phoenix, but all were obscured by some sort of spell that prevented him from reading them. An aside to Ron revealed that neither he, Ginny or the twins could read them, and that they didn't think that Percy could either. Not knowing what they said worried Harry, for a moment he felt his resentment from the previous year building up again, but he remembered his resolutions and knowing that there was nothing he could do about it for this moment he turned away so he could continue his study of the table's occupants.  
  
Percy, who had reconciled with his family since the events at the Ministry of Magic, was scribbling madly away at a piece of parchment while, like his father, eating toast. Glancing at the family clock Harry was forced to choke back a laugh. He nudged Ron with an elbow and pointed out Percy's hand which was wavering back and forth between 'work' and 'home.' Ron had a little less self control and let out a loud guffaw which had everyone looking at him, with the interesting result that Percy's arrow went resolutely to point at 'home.'  
  
Fred and George seemed to have finished their breakfast very quickly and were headed towards the stairs while talking intently in lowered voices. Harry guessed that their conversation and reason for leaving so fast was connected to Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, their business that was finally up and running in the new premises at number ninety-three Diagon Alley. He decided that he was definitely right when one of them, Fred he thought, looked back at him and gave him a conspiratorial wink. They weren't going into the shop today. They had been telling Harry the night before that Lee Jordan, who they had hired as soon as he had graduated, could handle the store for the day easily enough. And, they had further explained, although they had enough room on the premises for development of new Wheezes, why not take this golden opportunity to work at home, in the place where they had invented so many before. _Especially _while their competitors had no chance of spying on them, thanks to the protective spells. Harry grinned back at them, looking forward to that night when the twins had promised to give him a preview on what they were working on plus talk over some ideas the three of them had been discussing in their letters, before he checked himself suddenly. He looked quickly back at Ron, who, he was relieved to notice, was currently wrapped up in yet another futile attempt to force time to speed up by staring at his watch as intently as possible.  
  
His sudden movement did however reveal someone watching. Harry caught sight of Ginny, who was sitting opposite him looking back and forth between him and the retreating backs of the twins while the expression on her face went from one of curiosity to suspicion to dawning realisation. A thought stirred in his mind, but was quickly quashed. When she noticed him looking and turned back to her bacon, Harry made a mental note to let the twins know about this new development before snagging some bacon for himself and beginning to eat.

-------------------------

At five minutes to ten Harry glanced up from his nest of books and parchment and quills at Ron whose pacing seemed to have reached fever pitch, with the new addition of muttering to the floor-show. The regular letters that he had received from Ron while he was still staying at Privet Drive - a welcome change from the last summer - in combination with Ron's behaviour during the last couple of years told Harry the reason for this, even though Ron seemed to still be oblivious to his own growing feelings for their bushy-haired friend. His favourite topic seemed to be Viktor Krum, who had taken Hermione to the Yule Ball in their fourth year, invited her to visit him in Bulgaria (Harry still hadn't heard whether she had gone or not) and, horror of horrors, exchanged letters with her during the past year. In his own letter's to Harry, Ron had agonised over whether or not Hermione was still exchanging letters with 'Vicky' in Bulgaria, and waxed lyrical on the dangers presented by Voldemort and the Death Eaters, as well as foreigners, how they couldn't be trusted and last but most certainly not least, Ron's suspicions about Krum. He mused that now would probably be a good time for him to make himself scarce for a couple of hours.  
  
Catching Hermione's name in the midst of the rest of Ron's muttering Harry was convinced that the course of action he had been contemplating was the right way to go. He started to gather all of his things together before standing up, the sudden movement grabbing Ron's attention.  
  
"Hey! Where are you going, Harry? Hermione's going to be here anytime now."  
  
"Sorry Ron. Look, I just can't concentrate on this in here," Harry said indicating the potions essay he had been working on. "You know I need to get all these assignments done, McGonagall put herself on the line for me and I'm not going to let her down. So I'm doing all this extra study for Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology and Potions, in addition to the essays they wanted all the 'hopefuls' to write for holiday homework. I hope our OWL results get here soon so I can find out whether or not I'm wasting my time here," he said waving the partially written Potions Essay. "I really hope I got an 'O' in Potions, I need to be in that class." Harry groaned and would have ran his hand through his messy black hair if he had had a hand free before he continued, "Argh! I sound like Hermione!" He sighed, "I'm going to go outside to see if I can get any more work done there, say 'hi' to Hermione for me and tell her I'll see her later. I've got an idea I want to run past the two of you."  
  
Ron looked intrigued by Harry's last comment. "What is it?" he asked, before adding quickly "Alright... but don't forget to tell me later." He watched Harry finish gathering his work and start to leave. "You know, I think you might be right Harry, you are beginning to sound a bit like Hermione, not to mention act like her, I don't think I've seen anyone other than Hermione so motivated by homework, and that includes Percy. Hurry up and get it done so you can go back to being Harry, alright? See you later."  
  
Harry chuckled and headed through the kitchen, out the door and down into the yard, selecting a shady spot under a willow tree after checking carefully for gnomes. He sat down and for a short time closed his eyes and just relaxed, revelling in the calm of the moment, a rare commodity in Harry's life, listening to the birds, the ever-present insect orchestra and the slight breeze rustling the leaves, feeling its cool contrast to the steadily warming morning.  
  
Without warning a loud bang issued from behind him, shattering the peace. Looking back, over his shoulder with his wand at the ready, Harry rapidly identified it as having come from the twins room. Large clouds of indigo smoke billowed out of the open window and one of the twins, Harry was unable to identify which, hung from the frame, his hair standing up, patches of it matching the colour of the smoke. As Harry watched as the other twin leaned out the window and dragged his brother back in. Harry smiled slightly, before remembering the main reason he had some outside in the first place. He set up his gear again, glanced at the subject for his essay and with a long-suffering sigh set back to work.

-------------------------

Some time later the sound of someone clearing their throat brought Harry out of his studious state with a start. He looked up and his was met by a pair of warm brown eyes. His breath caught in his throat as a flicker of memory entered his mind but less of an effort than before he forced it back down.  
  
To cover the moment he took to respond, Harry attempted a grin. "Ginny, you startled me."  
  
"Sorry, I thought you would have heard me coming..." She trailed off for a second and looked at him carefully as if unsure about something for a moment before rallying. "Mum sent me to find you. It's lunch time."  
  
"Oh, OK. Just give me a minute to measure this and I'll be right with you." Harry grabbed his ruler from where he had placed it within easy reach of his left hand while spreading out his parchment with his right. After double checking his measurements Harry shook his head in disbelief. "Six inches over. Ron'll never let me live this down if he finds out. Come to think about it, Hermione had better not hear about this either." Seeing Ginny look askance at him Harry elaborated, "she'll get expectations."  
  
Ginny laughed. "Come on, Mum'll send out more people if we don't hurry back, and then you won't have a chance of keeping this from Ron and Hermione." She hesitated slightly, then indicating Harry's carefully arranged things continued. "Do you need a hand getting that stuff inside?"  
  
Harry looked up at the blue sky. A few wispy white clouds were scattered in it's expanse, moving slowly in response to the remnants of the morning breeze which was still causing the trees in the vicinity to sway lazily. All in all the weather was perfect and promised to remain so. "Nah, it's alright. I'll just leave it here. I mean, I'll take in my potion stuff but I'll leave the rest and come back out after lunch to do some more."

-------------------------

_Shall I shut up now?_

_A/N: The Quote from OotP comes from page 441 of the Australian edition. What is it that Harry wants to speak to Ron and Hermione about? Will they ever learn about the length of his potions Essay? To find out the answers to at least some of these questions tune in to the next chapter of Harry Potter and the Time of Trials! _


	4. A Wheeze and a Setback

_Disclaimer: All you fan-fic readers know the drill by now. I'm not J.K so obviously I don't own Harry Potter (much as I'd like to), BUT I do own this plot. Well, the bits of it that the voices in my head aren't dictating..._

**Harry Potter and the Time of Trials**

**Chapter 4: A Wheeze and a Setback**

Now that Weasleys Wizard Wheezes was up and running with a proper shop and everything, Harry had noticed that Mrs Weasley was much more tolerant of the emissions and explosions which regularly were seen and heard coming from the twins room. If nothing else, the lack of a highly vocal response to the explosion earlier made this clear to him. Harry was also taking a much more active role than anyone other that he and the twins knew. When he was not working on his holiday essays and readings, or writing to his friends he had been devising new ideas for Wheezes, usually based on some of his more elaborate revenge on Dudley fantasies. With all the new knowledge that he was gaining from his extra study these got more and more imaginative by the day. When he had first tentatively wrote to the twins the response had been wildly enthusiastic. As the chief investor in their enterprise he was already highly placed in the twins esteem. The day he sent them his plans for 'Just Desserts' a charm that could be applied to various food stuffs, which would transmute the eater into that food - _Oh to see Dudley the walking talking chocolate bar!!! Although he'd probably start eating himself... _- along with instructions on how it could be altered to last for varying amounts of time, they sent him a reply congratulating him on his position being upped from investor to full partner in their business. At his request they changed this to a full silent partner, and from this point on ideas had flowed back and forth regular as clockwork.  
  
The one thing about going to see their presentation that had really worried Harry was getting away from Ron and Hermione without raising suspicion. However, now, as he left the living room, where they had all been talking he was confident that his presence would not be missed for some time. He even had a reasonable excuse if they did become suspicious, Harry reflected. He took one last look back at the two happily ensconced in yet another of their familiar blazing rows, this time about whether Herbology would be an important subject to take for the NEWTS. He shook his head wonderingly as he left the room.  
  
Harry walked up the stairs to the twins room. He was particularly looking forward to this 'audience' with the twins as they had told him that they had finished their initial testing on his brainchild. Final testing on human subjects was going to be attempted as soon as possible. Almost definitely on Percy, who the twins were particularly irked by because of his betrayals of his family the previous year, which thus made him first choice as Wheeze 'guinea-pig.' Percy's distracted method of eating meant that this would be even easier. Harry had yet to see Percy without some paperwork on hand that, or so Percy told them, couldn't wait a moment longer to be looked over or written up. Arriving at the twin's door Harry debated the wisdom of touching anything belonging to the twins before he decided that it was worth the risk, and knocked firmly on the door.  
  
"So," Harry questioned them when the door had opened and he had been ushered into their room, "what was it that you were working on this afternoon? That blue smoke took forever to go away." Before they could start to answer Harry took a look around.  
  
If Harry had thought that Ron's room was bright with its vivid orange colour scheme, seeing the twins room made it dull in comparison. Their lurid green dragonskin jackets, hanging on the ends of their beds, which had stood out so garishly when the twins had greeted the Hogwarts Express seemed merely to blend into the background in this cacophony of colour. Electric blue walls struggled for dominance against the hot pink ceiling and iridescent yellow carpet. To one side were two beds, one with a bright purple quilt on it, the other scarlet. Harry idly wondered if any of it glowed in the dark while his eyes adjusted to the sight. Somehow, he wasn't sure how, the colour scheme worked.  
  
Snapping out of it Harry looked over at the twins who were on the other side of their room, the side where they obviously did their work. Identical grins were regarding him with amusement.  
  
Seeing that they had his attention George answered Harry's question. "New product. At least it will be a new product when we work out how to stop it going off before we want it to." His grin turned rueful.  
  
"Basically," Fred elucidated, "its an alarm system. A way of stopping people from mucking about where they aren't supposed to be."  
  
"It's keyed to certain people, so that they can approach and do what they want, but anyone the alarm doesn't recognise..."  
  
"Gets blown up and turned blue?" Harry extrapolated, thinking of the explosion earlier.  
  
"Pretty much, except that the smoke is supposed to flash and they're supposed to be stopped too. Completely frozen until a person who IS keyed to the alarm turns it off."  
  
"Means that the thief is stopped, caught and identified. And as we're going to use it on our shop we can then adjust the wards to not let them so much as enter. It'll be pretty good..."  
  
"...when we sort out the bugs."

-------------------------

The twins showed Harry around their room, demonstrating a few new products they had finished and showing him some of the others that were in it the development and testing stages. As a finale they showed him the first completed prototype of 'Just Desserts.'  
  
"We thought long and hard about what we were going to use to test this..."  
  
"...and finally we decided to use it on a competitor's product. Just this once though, as a test. In honour of our slimy, treacherous, snake of a brother," Harry guessed they were talking about Percy, "who is going to be testing it we decided to go with that old Honeydukes favourite, the Cockroach Cluster."  
  
Harry, who was still annoyed with Percy over his actions of the previous year had no problem with this.  
  
"When?" Harry asked them expectantly.  
  
"Breakfast tomorrow, we'll have to be up early as he's planning on being at work early."  
  
"It'll be worth it though. Also, just in case Mum cottons on to your involvement you should know the escape plan."  
  
Fred waited for a dramatic moment before divulging the plan. "Run. We," he indicated his twin and himself, "will provide a distraction and Apparate away..."  
  
"...to the store, so you will have to find a good spot to hide, probably best if it's inside though, as we'll have to get away from the Burrow to Apparate. Then wait till Mum calms down. Shouldn't be too long though... she likes you."  
  
"Alright. We should probably wrap this up. We don't want anyone getting suspicious. Even Ron will notice if you've disappeared for to long."  
  
As he was preparing to head back out, this reminded Harry of something he had meant to tell the twins.  
  
"One thing before I go. I think it may be a little to late. I reckon Ginny suspects something." Harry quickly outlined what he had seen at breakfast.  
  
The twins looked at each other as if having a quick, silent conversation.  
  
"It should be OK," George said conclusively. "Gin's alright, she'll keep her mouth shut. I reckon we need to have a talk to her about upholding the troublemaking traditions for the family anyway."  
  
"We were thinking about getting her more actively involved anyhow, so this all works well."

-------------------------

When Harry woke the next morning the sky was just beginning to show the first orange hint of dawn. He sat up and stiffled a yawn before trying to wake up Ron.  
  
Ron muttered something illegible, turned over and resumed snoring. He tried again with a similar result. Harry decided it was a lost cause.  
  
"Your loss," he told his slumbering friend.  
  
He got dressed and headed down the stairs. Passing by Ginny's room he could hear someone moving around inside.  
  
"No," a voice inside the room said inexplicably. It sounded irritated. He looked at the door for a moment before shaking his head and hurrying on. At the foot of the stairs the twins were waiting for him.  
  
"You got here just in time." Fred greeted him.  
  
"Remember the plan?" Harry nodded. "Alright, lets get this done."  
  
Mrs Weasley was already up, and the smell of breakfast cooking left drove the last residues of sleep from Harry's mind. She looked up as they entered.  
  
"Good morning boys, what has you up so early?"  
  
"Going over to the shop early." George told her.  
  
"Got to get ready for the 'Back to school' rush. It's going to be really busy."  
  
Harry thought in vain for a plausible excuse. "I woke up, and couldn't really get back to sleep." It sounded weak to his ears, but Mrs Weasley seemed happy to accept it.  
  
The three settled over at the table, the twins flanking their unsuspecting older brother, and Harry as near to the way to the stairs as possible. Mr Weasley was not there. From what Harry could gather he had been away on Order business the night before and was sleeping in as he had organised to have the day off.  
  
Percy reached absently for a piece of toast, but kept his face firmly hidden behind the paper he was reading. The twins noting this waited until their mother had turned back to her cooking and put the specially treated sweet on top of the toast pile.  
  
Percy muttered something about incompetence and made a scribbled note. Harry watched as he finished his piece of toast and reached for another. He held his breath as Percy lifted the Cockroach Cluster to his mouth and took a big bite.  
  
The effect was almost instantaneous. One moment Percy was just Percy and the next he was a Percy shaped Cockroach Cluster, mouth hanging open in shock at his sudden transformation. The papers slipped through his fingers and hit the table.  
  
The sound alerted Mrs Weasley who turned around, took one look at Percy, one look at the three boys desperately tying not to laugh and exploded in fury.  
  
"What have you three done?!!"  
  
Harry gaped for a second, but the twins moved in front of Harry and stepped instantly into action.  
  
"Our new Wheeze, Mum."  
  
"What do you think?" George asked her while furiously gesturing behind his back for Harry to move.  
  
Harry bolted up the steps to the sound of more fury and then the unmistakable sound of the twins throwing open the door and sprinting to the closest point where they could Apparate. Although Harry could hear Mrs Weasley following her sons, he was sure that at any moment she would be after him, so Harry bolted up the stairs trying to work where he could hide for however long it would take for her to calm down.  
  
"Stupid, stupid, stupid." He said to himself as he came to another landing.  
  
The door in front of him opened without warning. A pair of hands grabbed him and pulled him inside, before closing the door behind him. Harry turned to thank his rescuer.  
  
It was Ginny. She looked as though she planned to ask him something. She even managed to start with "what's going..." but suddenly the images in his mind were back, and stronger than ever. The room span as Harry tried vainly to push them back, to hide from them, anything. He fell over clutching his head.  
  
Another person, Hermione he dimly realised, was kneeling in front of him. She was saying something, but he couldn't make it out over the memory of the pain.  
  
Finally, with an effort he had feared would be beyond him, Harry banished the memory back into the dark recesses of his mind. Panting, he managed to make out the words of concern that Hermione was saying.  
  
"Harry, what's wrong? Are you alright? Is it You-kno... Voldemort? Ginny, call your Mum, something's wrong with Harry."  
  
"No, don't. It's alright, _I'm _alright. Don't call her, it's under control now." Harry realised he was babbling and stopped himself. Steeling himself, he looked over at Ginny and stood up. "See, all fine."  
  
"No, Harry, your not alright," Hermione told him, clearly worried.  
  
"Just don't call anyone. It's over, OK."  
  
Not looking happy about it, Hermione reluctantly acquiesced, although from the glint in her eyes Harry summised that this was not the last he would hear from her on this. Hermione scented a mystery and there was no chance that she would let it rest indefinitely.  
  
However now Harry became aware of another problem. The sounds of an angry Molly Weasley increased in volume as she climbed the stairs. Harry, remembering the reason for his hurried flight up only minutes before looked around desperately for an escape.  
  
Ginny, fast picking up on the situation grabbed his arm and pushed him into her wardrobe, brown eyes full of questions.  
  
"Hermione, watch the door," she ordered before turning to Harry. "What's going on," she whispered keeping one eye on Hermione.  
  
"Percy was the victim of a new Wheeze a little while ago and your mother is under the impression that I'm involved." Harry explained quickly.  
  
"Are you?" Ginny asked, before Hermione whispered a warning. The noise outside drew even with her floor and she quickly shut the door until it was clear that Mrs Weasley had kept on going up. The closet door re-opened.  
  
"Kind of," Harry started.  
  
They heard a door flung open and Mrs Weasley let out a roar. This was quickly followed by a loud thump, which Harry identified as Ron falling out of bed. Having verified that Harry was not there, the thudding footfalls started down again, stopping outside Ginny's door. Hermione gave them a look, then flung herself over toward her bed and picked up a book.  
  
"Never mind now, tell me later."  
  
The closet door closed firmly.  
  
Harry closed his eyes and hoped for the best.

-------------------------

Once again, Ginny's incredible ability to lie convincingly to her mother diffused a potentially nasty situation. She had calmed her mother, dismissing her suspicions that Harry had been any more than an amused bystander and convinced her that Harry wasn't anywhere nearby, all in a matter of minutes. Percy's reversion to his usual self in plenty of time for him to get to work on time had consolidated this, meaning that Harry was fairly sure that he would be safe if he went down for lunch a little later on. Fairly sure.  
  
For now though, Harry, along with the girls and Ron had gathered in Ron's room, on the theory that discretion was the better part of valour, and that avoiding Mrs Weasley would be best until she had completely recovered.  
  
"The problem," Ron explained to Harry and Hermione with Ginny's help, "is that Mum is afraid that Percy will go away again. She hated it that he was gone all of last year, that he had fought with Dad, and sent back his Christmas present."  
  
"Percy's always been the responsible one, the one that she could rely on. Seeing him ally himself with the Ministry against the family... it was bad for us, but it was worse - much worse - for Mum."  
  
"Mum _never _wants that to happen again. So whatever happened this morning, it brought those fears to the surface and she freaked out."  
  
Harry felt a little bad about what he had been a part of, although only because of Mrs Weasley. He could still picture Percy with a warm feeling of satisfaction. With the others starting to question him, he kept his side of the bargain. Although he decided to keep just how deeply he was involved a secret for the moment.  
  
"At breakfast the twins had Percy eat a Cockroach Cluster." Hermione looked disgusted, but Ron and Ginny just looked annoyed at having missed it. He hurried to continue, "Only it had been treated with something, and when Percy ate it, well..." Harry tried to think of a way to describe what he had seen. "He turned into a giant Percy shaped Cockroach Cluster." He tried not to laugh a the memory, "You had to be there. It was so funny."  
  
"But how did you know to be there Harry?" Ron asked suspiciously. "And why didn't you wake me up, so I _could _have seen?"  
  
Harry knew he was on thin ice here. He answered cautiously, "the twins told me to get up early yesterday, and I did try to wake you. Twice. Not my fault that you didn't want to wake up."  
  
Ron did not look happy.

-------------------------

_Shall I shut up now?_

_A/N: In other news numbernintythreediagonalley.net looks to be finally up and running. In fact this should be there before it hits ff net, so visit there to see chapters of this fic before they show up here. You can also see ToT as it's meant to be, with centring (maybe) and italics (definitely) and different fonts (for sure) and underlining and everything else.  
  
What were Hermione and Ginny doing up so early? Who said "No" and why? Was it just to help the plot along or is there a more sinister meaning? Am I resorting to FanFic clichés? Will Harry ever tell them whatever it was he wanted Ron to remind him of in the previous chapter? Will Ron ever remember to ask Harry what he wanted to tell them in the previous chapter? Will everyone learn of Harry's involvement with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes? Will anyone work out where the name I'm working under and my sig line come from? Will I ever stop these stupid questions? Apparently so. And don't forget to review, it's your way of making sure that I continue to write and post! _


	5. What Goes Around, Comes Around

_Disclaimer: All you fan-fic readers know the drill by now. I'm not J.K so obviously I don't own Harry Potter (much as I'd like to), BUT I do own this plot. Well, the bits of it that the voices in my head aren't dictating..._

**Harry Potter and the Time of Trials**

**Chapter 5: What Goes Around, Comes Around**

Much to Ron's apparent disgust he spent the next few days doing _work_, along with Harry and Hermione, outside under the willow tree. Ron didn't have much to do as he had not specifically asked for work for the holidays, just a couple of research assignments that had been set for Charms and Transfiguration as well as some Defence against the Dark Arts that Harry had suggested. Hermione, had nearly twice as much as she had included Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and Potions in her itinerary. Harry, even with all he had finished earlier, easily had twice as much as both of them combined - perhaps even more.  
  
With each passing day, Hermione had been getting more and more agitated in the morning when the post owl came. Harry knew all to well why, as the same thing had been bothering him. Their results for the OWLs had yet to arrive. McGonagall had told them quite clearly that they could expect their results sometime in July, and yet July was almost over with no sign of anyone having received their results. The pressure was mounting. Discussions while they were working under the willow had come up with only one possible reason for this. But none of them really wanted to discuss the events in the Ministry of Magic just yet. It was still a little to soon.  
  
On the first Tuesday after his arrival a the Burrow nothing much had changed. July was in its declining days and yet still no owl had arrived with their OWL results. They headed out, not long after breakfast, as they had every day and set themselves up to get some more of their work done. It was while looking up from a particularly hard to read passage on the theoretical use of Basilisk venom in a potion to sedate Whomping Willows, that Harry noticed something to his right.  
  
"This is the bit I hate about holidays," Ron said suddenly, throwing down Harry's copy of _Practical Defensive Magic and its Use Against the Dark Arts: Volume III _with a thump loud enough to bring Harry's attention mostly back to the group.  
  
"What, homework?" he asked in a distracted tone while looking around again.  
  
"Well yes, but that wasn't what I was talking about. I was talking about the whole not being able to do magic. All this theory is like being back in bloody Umbridge's class again." He paused before adding, "only without Umbridge."  
  
Harry was trying to work out what had caught his attention before. Over near the fence he spotted a familiar sight, although he hadn't been expecting to see it here.  
  
"That's not true Ron," Hermione put in, looking up from her own Defence against the Dark Arts work. "This is at least useful and interesting. Umbridge taught from that horrible, pointless text that taught us absolutely nothing new or even useful!"  
  
Again Harry's attention was drawn away from his right as he and Ron looked at each other with their eyes widening in shock.  
  
"Never thought I would see the day..." Ron said in a wondering voice, before pulling himself together and conceding the point.  
  
Harry easily relocated the anomaly in the corner of his eye, and when he was sure that it was staying where it was, surreptitiously nudged Ron. He had remembered how interested Ron had been in his flour bombs and decided to give his friend a go.  
  
"How's your aim?" He asked Ron quietly.  
  
"Not bad," Ron whispered back. "Why?"  
  
Harry flicked his eyes in the direction he had seen the suspiciously flattened patch of grass. "Watcher."  
  
"Tonks?"  
  
"No. _Watcher_," he told Ron before saying at a more normal volume, "It's in my bag, help yourself."  
  
Harry moved the bag closer to Ron so that he could easily rifle though it. He watched as with one quick movement, Ron pulled his hand free, twisted and threw the flour bomb accurately at the spot Harry had indicated. It impacted with a thump, showering their watcher with the fine powder. The three watched as, coughing violently, Bill Weasley emerged from under the invisibility cloak he had been using.  
  
"Damn," He managed to get out between coughs. "Should have listened to Moody, but I thought he was exaggerating in his usual paranoid 'Constant Vigilance' way."  
  
"Apparently not," Harry commented dryly, before turning back to his work.  
  
Ron however was not prepared to do any more work.  
  
"Cheers, Harry, that was fun," he exclaimed. "Must have been really irritating, what with all these people watching your every move."  
  
"They've been dead useful though. At least after the first one I didn't have to send Hedwig off to the Order with my 'all's well' reports. I just chucked the letters to whoever wasn't sneaky enough to avoid getting hit by the flour bombs."  
  
Hermione smothered a laugh as she tried to give the boys a disapproving look. "Come on Ron, you've still got two essays to finish."  
  
"I'll do 'em later. We've still got plenty of time. A whole month to get them done. Let's go play Quidditch." Ron argued. "Come on Bill, you'll play, won't you?" Ron called over his shoulder to his eldest brother who was trying vainly to beat the flour out of the invisibility cloak. Ron turned back to the others without waiting for a response, "and Ginny'll play, and..." He examined the midafternoon sun in the sky considering, "...the twins should be coming home soon. And Charlie said he'd be back early today."  
  
Harry waited. When after a few moments he didn't feel the dread that had filled him last time Quidditch had been brought up he replied. "Alright then."  
  
Hermione huffed at them, but joined them in packing up their things and trudging back up to the house.

-------------------------

The wind ruffled Harry's hair in a way that he hadn't realised that he had missed, until he was once again experiencing it. He was up in the air again. He was on his Firebolt again. He knew when he stopped he would be hit anew by his grief, but he also knew that it wouldn't be as bad as before. But for now he was free.  
  
He flew up as high as they were allowed to go while at the Burrow before going into a steep dive, going faster and faster until he didn't know if he would be able to pull up in time. Vaguely he could hear cheers and a few cries of concern from those around him, but he ignored them all. He was once again in his element. At the last possible moment he pulled up and came to a stop, mere centimetres from the ground.  
  
"My team gets Harry," George announced to the loud cries of denial from his twin.  
  
"Bugger," Fred looked around. "Well, Charlie isn't here yet, so I get Ginny."  
  
"Bill."  
  
"Ron."  
  
"Hermione."  
  
"Oh, no. I'm not playing." Hermione was adamant and she sat down firmly to prove her point.  
  
"Alright then, I get Charlie when he gets here."  
  
"But then you'll be one up."  
  
"So?"  
  
The twins had a brief midair tussle. It only ended when a small explosion issued from one of Fred's pockets, enveloping them in cherry red smoke for a few seconds.  
  
"Forgot about that," Fred said, astounded.  
  
Everyone else was too busy laughing to say anything. After all it wasn't every day that someone caught one of the twins unawares. The fact that Fred had done it to himself made the whole thing even funnier.

-------------------------

Without enough people to fill all the positions it was a very rough game of Quidditch that ensued. The competition between the twins was especially fierce. Bill and Ron were the keepers for their respective sides. With no snitch or bludgers, the others all became chasers.  
  
For all Bill was larger he had not been as effective a keeper as Ron, who had been in preparation for the upcoming school Quidditch season from almost the minute he had arrived home. Harry had noticed that Ginny showed promise in her position, and remembered that she had told him that after he regained his position on the house team as seeker - which he supposed he must have with the Quidditch ban lifted and from what everyone had been telling him - she hoped to get on the team again as a chaser.  
  
The twins seemed to have become locked into a private battle not long into the game. They had very little to do with the others and forgot that they were supposed to be chasers. This had the unfortunate side-effect of leaving Harry alone in combating Ginny. As a seeker Harry had excellent reflexes and was a natural flier, but most of his experience was with the snitch. Sure, as his invisible watchers could no doubt attest, he had been throwing his flour bombs with superb aim - and to this he attributed any success he had in this match - but they, too, were smaller than a quaffle. Ron had gotten a good laugh out of his early efforts. It had taken quite a bit of the first hour before he had become comfortable with flying with the quaffle, and by this stage Ginny had gained a fairly good lead. Harry was forced into catch-up mode.  
  
Charlie showed up as the sun reached the horizon. The twins stopped their competition to try to entice him onto their teams, but he decided that what they really needed was a referee. He had the twins join in properly and the game running much as they had originally envisioned within minutes. Harry and George managed to close the gap between their team and Fred's, pushing Ron to work to protect his goals.  
  
The game had gone on for hours, until finally the last rays of sunlight were gone, and the starlight was all that lit their game. Hermione had left about an hour ago, although not many of them had noticed until they finally came back to earth, hot, sweaty and tired, but exhilarated as well.  
  
Bill undid the rough transfiguration on the trees that had become their goals, and they all ambled to the broom-shed to put away their brooms for the night. It was while laying his Firebolt down that the grief Harry had been expecting finally hit him. He was glad that he was bringing up the rear as it gave him the opportunity to compose himself before he had to enter the brightly lit Burrow. He dropped back further from the main group as he became wound up in his thoughts. _I'm sorry Sirius. I didn't mean for you to die, not then, not like that. You were the closest thing to a real family that I've ever had, and now you're gone, all because I was in to much of a rush to do something instead of using my head. I was so busy trying to keep you safe that I put you in danger.  
  
_The light coming out of the back door of the Burrow made it look comfortingly warm and inviting. It shook him out of his momentary lapse into grief, and he wiped his eyes, squared his shoulders and left the darkness outside.

-------------------------

The next morning Harry woke up rather late. The light was streaming in through the window and even before he put on his glasses he had to blink several times and squint before he could open his eyes properly in the glare.  
  
Ron was not in his bed.  
  
He headed down the stairs, stopping outside Ginny's room and listening. When he heard nothing he tried knocking. That too, proved fruitless. So he gingerly opened the door and stuck his head inside. The girls were not there.  
  
Harry wondered where everyone else was.  
  
He went down a couple more flights and tried the twins' room, although given the time he held out little hope that they would be present. This was quickly proven correct.  
  
Harry puzzled over this as he established that none of the Weasleys were in their rooms and, on reaching the ground floor, that none of them were even present in the Burrow. Why had no-one woken him up? Where had all of them gone? Was the trip to Diagon Alley today? He didn't think so, as they usually went later in the summer, and besides, their results and booklists were yet to arrive.  
  
Percy and Mr Weasley would be at the Ministry. George and Fred would be at their shop. Bill would be at Gringotts, as he had been home yesterday. Charlie should be here though, as one of the elder Weasley boys was always on hand. Mrs Weasley should be here too, unless urgent Order business had called her away. Ron, Hermione and Ginny though, maybe they were outside.  
  
He headed back up to Ron's room to get dressed, but when Harry opened to his trunk to get his clothes out he made another discovery. All his books were missing. And his bag. Something was going on.  
  
He rapidly to pull on some a shirt and trousers and bounded down the stairs. He raced through the kitchen and opened the door, planning to head straight for the willow.  
  
But when the door was open he came to a standstill. For there everyone was, and more besides. They must have made use of a judicious amount of silencing spells to disguise the noise that was probably the main reason that nobody had noticed his standing there, mouth hanging open in surprise.  
  
He stood there for several minutes, frozen, until by chance Hermione looked up from the table she was setting and gave a most un-Hermione like squeal.  
  
"Harry!! When did you get there? Happy birthday!!"  
  
And indeed, when he thought about it, it was his birthday. His sixteenth. Without his countdown calendar, which he had left at the Dursleys, he had lost track of the days.  
  
Everyone else, alerted to his presence by Hermione, crowded round.  
  
"Happy birthday, Harry," Charlie congratulated him. Mrs Weasley beamed at him from where she was somewhat tied up, decorating the garden.  
  
"Yeah, happy birthday, mate," Ron said giving him an awkward pat on the back. While he was close he quietly added, "head for the willow, it's your only chance." He backed off again fast and slipped off into the crowd. Harry wondered why.  
  
Tonks, with her hair a green vivid enough to rival the twins jackets, came up and tousled his hair in greeting. She checked behind him before turning around and giving the all clear sign to the other Order members present. "He's unarmed!"  
  
A flight of flour bombs took off and arched toward him. Not expecting it, Harry was hit by a good few before he turned and ran for it.

-------------------------

It was a great birthday party. The best Harry had ever had, not that that was hard to do. When Harry managed to lose his pursuers and get to the willow tree, the younger Weasleys and Hermione were already there, waiting there for him. Ron was holding Harry's bag filled with what had to be last of his supply of flour bombs.  
  
"As the only members of Dumbledore's Army present, we feel that it is our duty to aid you in this endeavour," Hermione told him formally, handing over his invisibility cloak that Harry hadn't noticed she was holding. "So what do you want us to do?"  
  
Harry looked at his troops. This was war. He dusted himself off as best he could as he considered his next move.  
  
"Fred, George, got any specials with you?"  
  
The twins looked at each other with huge grins. As one they turned to Harry and saluted "Yes, sir."  
  
"You know what to do."  
  
They took over the flour bomb stockpile and started to make some alterations. Harry looked back to the others.  
  
"Ron, get brooms for you, me and Ginny. We're going to be the aerial assault. Ginny, are there any bags that we can use to carry our ammunition?" He watched as they ran off furtively in different directions. "Hermione, I need to know exactly who and what we're up against."  
  
Hermione quickly told him who the guests were. Tonks, Harry already knew was present. Hermione rattled off a list of Order members that he had met over the last summer, most of whom he had also met this summer, whilst they had been performing their 'guard' duties. Others were not there yet but expected to show up later in the day.  
  
"They'll be out for revenge," he mused to himself, before his head snapped up. "One minute, Hermione. Is Lupin coming? I didn't see him, and you didn't say he was here."  
  
Harry was both looking forward and dreading seeing the last true Marauder. He hadn't heard from him, or seen anything of him since Kings Cross. He hadn't really had a chance to gauge how the older man had been coping at the time. He wondered how Lupin was doing. If he, like Harry, was keeping himself busy to combat the grief of their mutual loss.  
  
"He's going to be here, Harry. But their not expecting him for a while, I'm not sure why, I think Dumbledore might have had him off doing something. I heard some of the others mention that Mad-eye had gone with him, to keep - for want of a better term - an eye on him."  
  
By the time Ron and Ginny had both arrived back the twins had finished making their alterations to the flour bombs. Harry set about making his battle plans.  
  
"Hermione, you and the twins will be our ground forces. I think we should probably keep away from the area that's been set up for the party, but watch out for attacks launched from there. Ron, I've lost too many chess games to you, to not realise that strategy is your thing. Any guesses on what their doing?"  
  
Ron thought for a moment, "Ginny, you were just up at the house, any enemy movement?"  
  
They fell to planning their counter-attack.

-------------------------

Harry looked around at the people gathered to help him celebrate his birthday. Most were still sporting signs of their monumental battle, white patches on their clothes, powder rising from someone's hair as they shook their head 'no' to a question someone else had asked them.  
  
In the end a truce had been called, as a stalemate had been reached. Harry's team had the advantage early on with their use of broomsticks. Bill and Charlie had tried to copy them, but Hermione, well stocked with ammo, had control of the broom shed.  
  
The twins specials had almost made up for the fact that two thirds of their team were unable to use magic, but Harry knew that if it hadn't been for the wards preventing Apparating, they would have lost spectacularly.  
  
They had, in fact, been winning, with most of their opponents in full retreat under their onslaught. Unfortunately it was at this time that reinforcements had arrived. Mad-Eye Moody, with his magical eye capable of seeing though almost anything as far as Harry knew, quickly put the advantage of using his invisibility cloak to rest. And Lupin, who apparently had not been in on the Order's plans, after being brought up to speed, had proven their downfall, his years of Marauding experience countering their use of Fred and George.  
  
Harry chuckled to himself as he remembered the shocked looks on the twins faces.  
  
A hush drew over the crowd, drawing Harry back to the present, as Mrs Weasley came out the back door with a huge chocolate birthday cake bobbing slightly in the air ahead of her. She gave a wave of her wand and it gently came to a rest on the main table. Another wave and sixteen lit candles appeared on top.  
  
Harry was guided over to the table as the revellers started to sing.  
  
After everyone had finished singing him _Happy Birthday_, they looked at him expectantly.  
  
Harry stared at the candles on his second proper birthday cake, one that he could share with his friends, those around him. He knew he had to make a wish, as he had half-heartedly in the past, but this time it would have to mean something.  
  
He thought hard. Then it struck him: his resolution. He closed his eyes to make his wish.  
  
_I wish for a little time, Harry thought. I need it to prepare, to be ready to do what I need to do. I need to defeat Voldemort once and for all. I'm working really hard. I'm going to give it my best shot. I owe it to Sirius and to Cedric, who have fallen to his evil conniving. To Ron and Hermione, better friends than I could have hoped for, who have stood by me though thick and thin. To Ginny who has faced the darkness twice and come out on top. To the Weasley's who took me in and treated me as one of their own. To Lupin. I owe it to my parents, who sacrificed their lives that I might live. I will not let any of them down ever again. I can't_.  
  
Those around him seemed to realise that they had witnessed something profound, for all that he had made his wish silently. When he opened his eyes, he could see that they were watching him, and he wondered what they saw. What it was about him that seemed to have them so spellbound, so entranced?  
  
Pig hooted and dive-bombed the cake, only stopped by Harry's lightning fast seeker reflexes. It successfully broke the mood, and everyone started to clap, and talk, and laugh again. The party went on until the late hours of the night.

-------------------------

_Shall I shut up now?_

_A/N: Harry's birthday was on a Wednesday that year - I looked it up to be sure. The book Ron is using is based on the 'set of excellent books' Sirius and Lupin gave Harry for Christmas the previous year (OotP p.443).  
  
Stay tuned for chapter six, where the 'no' question will be answered, OWLs will fly in the window, Hermione will read a book, Ginny will get an unwelcome present, the DA will play a role, and Hermione will be very upset (although not necessarily in that order). _


	6. And It All Went Up in Smoke

_Disclaimer: All you fan-fic readers know the drill by now. I'm not J.K so obviously I don't own Harry Potter (much as I'd like to), BUT I do own this plot. Well, the bits of it that the voices in my head aren't dictating..._

**Harry Potter and the Time of Trials**

**Chapter 6: And It All Went Up in Smoke**

Harry walked down the stairs slowly. Ron had disappeared down to the kitchen half an hour ago in search of food, but Harry had wanted to find his copies of _Exploding Cauldrons _and _When Potions Go Wrong: a guide to prevention, neutralisation and when to run like the Hounds of Hell are chasing you (as they very well may be) _which he had promised Hermione that he would lend her before he went to breakfast. It had taken him longer than expected as he was still getting used to all his new possessions - gifts from his birthday party.  
  
As he reached Ginny's door he slowed down to see if the girls were still in there.  
  
"Fine," an exasperated voice exclaimed in the room. Harry wondered what it was about, but sure now that they were there he stopped and knocked, mentally preparing himself for seeing the youngest Weasley.  
  
"Just a minute, Harry," the voice, which he now was sure belonged to Ginny, called out rather abruptly.  
  
"How'd you know it was me?" Harry asked somewhat perplexed.  
  
"You came down stairs, which meant either you or Ron, and then you knocked. Ron just barges on in, although I'm trying to get him out of that habit."  
  
Hermione muttered darkly in the background leading Harry to wonder if Ron had made a stopover at the girls room on his way down that morning.  
  
The door opened, and Ginny greeted him with a smile, although she still seemed somewhat out of sorts. Harry managed not to overtly jump as a freezing sensation ran through him and successfully blocked off his memory before it had a chance to take hold. Mentally congratulating himself he noticed that Ginny's cheerfulness seemed forced. He wondered what she and Hermione had been talking about before he arrived.  
  
Looking into the room, Harry could see Hermione rummaging through her trunk over near the window.  
  
"Hi," he greeted the two before directing his attention to Hermione. "I brought you those books," he told her holding them up to get her attention. She finished whatever it was she had been doing and came over to the door to retrieve them. "Are you two coming down for breakfast now?"  
  
Hermione, with _Exploding Cauldrons _securely held under one arm and already flipping through _When Potions Go Wrong_, looked up. "Yes, of course. Thanks for the lend, Harry, they're just what I needed for that Potions essay."  
  
She headed down the stairs, nose buried in the pages. Harry watched her go, wondering how she managed to navigate the stairs while unable to see them. Ginny caught his eye and her mood seemed uplifted as they shared a grin before following.

-------------------------

When Harry set out his books he was surprised to find that Ginny had joined Ron, Hermione in following him under the willow. Harry raised an eyebrow at Ron who seemed as surprised as he was. He recovered quickly though and with a calculating look that Harry recognised from long years of playing chess against his friend, Ron carefully placed himself and Hermione so that Ginny would be sitting closest to Harry. The look on Ginny's face told him that she was back to her bad mood of earlier that morning, making him wonder why she had decided to join their study session.  
  
"All right, Ginny? You joining us?" He enquired watching as she set out her own books.  
  
"Yeah," came the not entirely happy reply.  
  
"What's up?" Ron asked sounding a little concerned at her tone of voice.  
  
"Hermione." The annoyed look that accompanied the answer didn't seem to bother Hermione at all. "She's been at me to start studying for the OWL's ever since she arrived. Finally wore me down this morning, I couldn't take it any more."  
  
"Just be glad she didn't give you a homework planner," Harry told her in a half joking voice. "'_Do it today or later you'll pay!'_" he reminisced.  
  
The black book she held up was all the reply that was needed.  
  
Ron and Harry gave her sympathetic looks. "I guess she learnt from us last year," Ron said in a stage whisper to Harry. "Got in earlier."

-------------------------

They had been working steadily for over an hour when Ron suddenly started, knocking over a pile of precariously stacked parchment.  
  
"I can't believe I forgot! Harry, what was it you wanted to say the other day, when we were waiting for Hermione?"  
  
Harry looked at him for a moment before he managed to work out what Ron was on about. "Oh, yeah. I completely forgot about that. It was two things really."  
  
All three looked at him with undisguised interest.  
  
"Well, go on." Hermione prompted him.  
  
He took one quick look around to make sure there was nobody eavesdropping although he didn't think there would be. One of the terms of the truce after the great flour war was that there would no longer be any Order member trailing him around under an invisibility cloak. They had been dropping around quite openly instead. Lupin, taking every chance he could get to come over to the Burrow to visit Harry, had been their most regular visitor and had in fact surprised Harry at breakfast, but left before they headed outside. As no one was in sight for the moment, Harry got on with answering Ron's question.  
  
"I'm going to keep the DA going."  
  
"Good," Ron looked relieved about this bit of news. "We'd been talking a bit about that, wondering if you would."  
  
Hermione sat up straighter. "Have you worked out what your going to be teaching us first yet, Harry?" She asked, and before he had a chance to answer rattled on in her trademark breathless manner, "I was reading about sensory deprivation jinxes in _Practical Defensive Magic and its Use Against the Dark Arts: Volume VI_. I really think that was a brilliant set of books you got Harry, very informative," she gushed before getting back to the point, "and I think that that would be very interesting, not to mention useful. Plus I think we need to learn more about shielding, we really haven't had much on that in any of our years and so far you've only covered one shielding spell in the DA, _Protego_."  
  
When she eventually stopped to breath Harry managed to get a word in edgewise. "Actually, I had thought that for the first meeting I would do an overview of what we did last year, and after that there are a few things I'm doing some reading up on that I'd like to try out. I might have a look at those spells you mentioned. I'm sure I have the book around here somewhere." He rummaged around the books for a while before admitting defeat. "It must be one of the one's I left in my trunk. I'll look at it later. One thing about the DA though, don't go advertising it. I'm keeping it going, but I think we should keep it under wraps for now. I don't want information leaking to anyone we can't trust, or any of the teachers. That includes Dumbledore." He looked carefully at all of them until he was sure that they understood and would comply with his wishes.  
  
Ginny, who until this point had stayed out of this conversation, suddenly piped up. "But that's only one thing, Harry. What was the second thing?"  
  
Harry looked at her. He thought over his second idea and wondered how it would go over with the others. He was fairly sure Ron would be all for it, and from what he could remember Hermione saying a few days ago, she would probably go for it. Unless she had suffered a change of heart. Ginny he didn't know as well, but from her association with the twins he guessed that if anything she'd be kicking herself for not having thought of it first.  
  
Unconsciously rubbing the back of his hand Harry made his proposal to the group. "I was wondering what you guys, and you too Ginny, would think about us all conducting a little book-burning."  
  
His words were greeted with a shocked silence, before Ron enthusiastically began to agree and gather all the books into one pile. "Harry! You're back!"  
  
Hermione pushed her books out of Ron's reach and put herself between them, looking for all the world as if she was prepared to protect them with her life. "Are you _crazy_?" she screeched at Harry, while keeping her eyes on Ron who was trying to reach around her to grasp a charms text. With a quick move, Ron just managed to grab it. Hermione pulled the book back off him, and gave him a sharp hit on the hand with it when he tried to get another.  
  
Ginny seemed to be taking things pretty calmly. She just sat there watching and thinking.  
  
"Uh, Ron?" Harry asked, perturbed. "What are you doing?"  
  
Ron sighed and stopped trying to out-manoeuvre Hermione. "It was to much to hope for wasn't it." Hermione, apparently not convinced that he was finished gave him one last loud thump on the head with her book. "Blimey, Hermione, I wasn't serious! It was a joke." Ron tried to reassure her before turning some of his attention back to Harry. "OK. What did you mean then?"  
  
"Umbridge of course, you idiot."  
  
Harry was impressed by Ginny's ability to sound both withering and ironic at the same time.  
  
"But there is no book-" Hermione started before realisation hit her.  
  
Ron was even faster. He was on his feet and running toward the house as he shouted back over his shoulder, "I'll get mine now. And yours Harry, it's in your trunk right? Ginny or Hermione had better get the girls ones though, I'm not going back in there in a hurry." _Ah_, Harry thought. _I was right. I wonder what happened this morning?  
_  
"You do it Hermione," Ginny said. "I'm going to go Floo the twins. They'd never forgive us if we left them out of this." She raced off on the heels of her brother.  
  
Hermione stood up and dusted herself off.  
  
"You're in then?" Harry asked her.  
  
There was a light in her eyes that almost scared Harry as she looked at him. "I'm in," she replied before making her way back to the Burrow.

-------------------------

And so it was that a ceremonial book burning was arranged to take place at the Burrow that evening. It was a while before they could start though, as the twins insisted on getting Lee Jordon to join them, and then Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell. And when Ron came back down with his arms full of both his and Harry's copies of Wilbert Slinkhard's _Defensive Magical _Theory and their fifth year Defense Against the Dark Arts notes, he insisted on doing a call around as well.  
  
In the end, nearly the entire DA were coming over to the Burrow. Along with those the twins invited, Ron had got in touch with Neville Longbottom and Seamus Finnigan, who had spread the word to Dean Thomas, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil.  
  
Parvati's twin sister Padma had told Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot. The two Ravenclaw boys had tried to get Michael Corner to come, but apparently there was still to much bad feeling between him and Ginny, so he turned down the invite. Cho Chang decided to follow her boyfriend's lead, and her friend Marietta Edgecombe was still in disgrace with the DA - in fact the last Harry had heard, she was still in St Mungo's looking for a way to remove the word 'sneak' from her face as Madam Pomfrey had had no luck - so no one who was coming bothered to let her know.  
  
Susan Bones was contacted, and she managed to round up Justin Finch- Fletchley, Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott and Zacharias Smith, who somewhat surprisingly was eager to come.  
  
The Creevey brothers, Colin and Dennis, were a little more difficult to get a hold of. In the end they sent the twins over, when they had finished work, to let them know about what was happening and help them make their way to the Burrow.  
  
Luna Lovegood was unreachable. Ginny had told them that according to her last letter - a couple of days ago - she was still in Sweden with her father, and while Luna had reported that they had yet to see a Crumple- Horned Snorkack, they remained hopeful, and in fact had received an important tip-off that they were pursuing right at that very moment.  
  
It was after dark when everyone managed to assemble. Colin, with his ever- present camera, proclaimed himself official photographer and took a few photo's of the group gathered in the garden before they headed off for the real event.  
  
Harry, Hermione and the Weasley contingent lead the way down to the spot near their makeshift Quidditch pitch which they had picked for the fire. All carried their copy of Slinkhard's _Defensive Magical Theory _and great piles of parchment, covered with the notes that Umbridge had demanded they take. None looked apprehensive, in fact there was some effort involved in keeping to their ceremonial pace.  
  
Dennis, as the youngest person present, started the pile. He placed his notes and book down in the area that had been prepared. Harry gave a nod and the twins cast _Incendio _in tandem. With a great whoosh of air and flame the small pile ignited.  
  
A few cheers broke the solemn silence.  
  
Dennis, as excitable as his elder brother, started to dance haphazardly around the blaze.  
  
One by one, each of those present made their offering to the flames and joined Dennis. Some threw theirs in heedlessly, others deliberately placed them in position. Hermione memorably ripped her viciously in half before throwing them into the heart of the flames as hard as she could. Harry wondered if she might have a few anger issues, but wisely decided not to ask.  
  
Well into the night the group danced and talked and celebrated. Angelina provided some music and the twins broke out a new batch of experimental fireworks (a sickly yellow toad was chased around and around by a herd of multicoloured centaurs, who clip-clopped loudly as they ran) which they promptly set to marketing ('Umbridge: A Date with Destiny Fireworks,' only available on special order. 2 Galleons a box.)  
  
Colin took more photos and Justin had brought some marshmallows which he generously shared around to be toasted on the fire.  
  
"Finally, a practical purpose for theory," Terry Boot was heard to say as he munched on one particularly crunchy marshmallow.  
  
Some people jumped up at various times throughout the night and made impromptu speeches. George expressed his pride in Peeves efforts against the 'tyrant.' Ron explained the story of the Centaurs for any who had not yet heard it (or gotten the point from the fireworks display). Lee went on and on about what he'd do if he could get a hold of Umbridge, her quill and a nice quiet room where they couldn't be disturbed.. A few 'hear, hear's' from the group told Harry that there were more victims of the quill than he had previously thought. He looked at the back of his hand, with the hateful words she had made him write still faintly visible, and frowned slightly.  
  
When the fire finally died down, and the party wound up, all bar Angelina trooped back to the living room, where sleeping bags were conjured for them to spend the night. Angelina had to leave as she had an early Quidditch practice in the morning. She had told Harry all about her new position as a reserve Chaser for the Holyhead Harpies while they had been waiting for the stragglers to arrive earlier that evening. Alicia and Katie surrounded Angelina in a group hug just before she left, and Harry realised that this might be the last time the three of them were together for some time. It was weird. At Hogwarts they had seemed to him as inseparable and Ron, Hermione and he were, regardless of the fact that Katie was a year younger than the other two.  
  
Hogwarts, Harry reflected, was going to be a very different place this year.  
  
Quiet talking interspersed with silence among those who stayed, before they all finally dropped off to sleep.

-------------------------

Breakfast had already been finished - a rowdy affair with all the extras present - and their guests had all headed off by various means. Mrs Weasley was upstairs trying to convince Ginny that tidying her room was just the thing to do on a lovely, sunny day. From what Harry could hear she was not having much luck. He was sitting at the kitchen table with Ron and Hermione, none of them quite in the mood to do any work after the excitement of the night before.  
  
Perhaps it was co-incidence, but Harry preferred to believe that it was the newly cleared air created by the repudiation of anything to do with last years Defence class that resulted in the owl who flew into the Burrow, heavily laden with three very thick envelopes.  
  
With no doubt in their minds as to their contents, Harry, Ron and Hermione each took the envelope addressed to them in spiky aqua handwriting. For all that they had been waiting for a very long time for these results, now that the moment had come, none could bring themselves to look at them. Hermione was staring at the seal on hers, breathing quickly and shallowly. Ron was twirling his about in his hands, nervously glancing at his friends. Harry was holding his against his forehead, wondering if he could perhaps sense his results without having to check them properly. When this didn't work he sighed and placed it down on the table. The sight continued to elude him - it didn't bode well for his Divination results.  
  
Ginny, having made a successful escape bid, alighted from the stairs and took one look at the three. "Mum," she shouted back up the stairs before any of them could stop her, "their results are here!" She hurried forward and sat down. "Aren't you going to open them?"  
  
Ron shot her a dirty look. "Thanks a lot Ginny," he said grumpily, before sighing and looking at his envelope. The excited sounds of Mrs Weasley descending the stairs reached them. "I guess I'm first," he told the others, and they all turned to look at him.  
  
Ron opened the envelope carefully and removed a sheaf of papers. He looked at the top one, scanning it quickly before he put in at the back and looked to the second. He blinked. Then he looked at it again, slower this time. Then he was on his feet and jumping around in one sudden movement.  
  
"Yes!!!" he crowed to the room at large, pumping the air with his unoccupied fist. His mother appeared behind him and plucked his results from his hand. She quickly perused them then wrapped Ron in a big hug.  
  
"I'm so proud Ron, you've done so well." She looked at the others and their as yet unopened envelopes held tightly in their hands. "Come on you two, I want to see how you went too," she prompted.  
  
Harry looked over at Hermione, who now that the moment had come looked terrified. "Together?" he asked Hermione, before wincing at the unwelcome image that _that _word brought up.  
  
She gave him an acute nod and they both opened their envelopes, as carefully as Ron had. The first piece of paper was a letter from Griselda Marchbanks congratulating him on having completed his OWLs. Echoing Ron's action, he quickly discarded it and turned to the next page.  
  
A wail from across the room distracted him. His head shot up.  
  
Hermione, the source of the wail, looked more upset than Harry had ever seen her.

-------------------------

_Shall I shut up now?_

_A/N: You may recognise the bit where Harry quotes his homework planner. It's from OotP p. 443.  
  
Thanks to all my reviewers, especially my regulars, Melindaleo and jac. I update here as regularly as I can. Also, there is a possible chance that maybe, someday, I will have the chapters up earlier at numberninetythreediagonalley.net I don't think it will happen with the next chapter, but who knows? Hang on a second... ah huh... mmm hmm... OK, then. I have an answer for that last question. According to the voices in my head, they know. They just aren't telling. Smarmy bastards. _


	7. More Closely Guarded than the Crown Jewe...

_Disclaimer: All you fan-fic readers know the drill by now. I'm not J.K so obviously I don't own Harry Potter (much as I'd like to), BUT I do own this plot. Well, the bits of it that the voices in my head aren't dictating..._

**Harry Potter and the Time of Trials**

**Chapter 7: More Closely Guarded than the Crown Jewels**

"I knew it," Hermione was saying, hopelessness dominating her entire countenance. "I knew that getting those two runes mixed up would ruin my mark. How could I have been so _stupid! _Who mistakes _ehwaz _with _eihwaz_?" She slumped in her seat, apparently having decided that she was ruined academically.  
  
Ron wriggled out of his mothers ongoing bear-hug. He strode over to where Hermione was still sitting and snatched the parchment out of her limp hand. His jaw dropped and he hurried over to Harry who eagerly looked at it when it was thrust into his waiting hand.  
  
"Hermione! Are you mad?" Ron asked.  
  
"This is fantastic!" Harry affirmed. "All 'O's except Ancient Runes where you got an 'EE.' What's the problem?"  
  
"Look," Ron said, grabbing the parchment back so he could shove in front of Hermione's face. "An 'O' in Astronomy. That's unbelievable considering what was happening at the time, I don't think anyone else would have managed it."  
  
Hermione seemed to perk up a little, sitting up straighter and a half smile appeared on her face. "I suppose," she said, a little doubtfully.  
  
Ron was looking at Hermione's results again. Harry saw his eyes drift to the bottom of the parchment. Ron looked ready to turn to see what the other papers revealed but then took a double-take. "Sixteen?!! You got Sixteen OWL's?!!! That's got to be some kind of record. And you were worried?!!!"  
  
Harry had half noticed the sixteen at the bottom, but it's significance had bypassed him. He wondered how many he had gotten, and then remembered with a start that his results were just in front of him, waiting to be perused. Grinning slightly at his idiocy, Harry put aside his reservations of moments before and looked at his results.  
  
Well.  
  
Harry looked at them again.  
  
This wasn't so bad. He had pulled off an 'EE' for his written and an 'O' for the practical in Transfiguration. That would easily get him into the NEWT course. And he had somehow managed to not only get an 'O' in his Defence theory, a mark he had been rather expecting, but there was a strange mark for his practical test. He had gotten an 'F.' What was this? No one had mentioned an 'F' to him before. In a panicked moment he wondered if it was anything like a Muggle 'F,' before he remembered just how well he had done, and calmed himself down enough to try to find out more.  
  
Harry looked over at Hermione, who was looking thoroughly engrossed in the stack of papers that had been behind her results. Ron was looking over her shoulder, and Mrs Weasley and Ginny seemed rather interested in watching the two of them.  
  
He cleared his throat.  
  
"Hermione," she looked up at him absently. "Do you know what an 'F' is?" Harry felt suddenly self-conscious when he became the centre of the rooms attention.  
  
Hermione was reaching over the table, and he gingerly handed her his results sheet.  
  
He watched in silence as she read it over carefully, Ron still reading over her shoulder, now joined by his mother and sister.  
  
"A Faultless, Harry," she exclaimed, "what did you do in your practical?" Harry wondered just how wrapped up in her own tests Hermione must have been to have forgotten this.  
  
Ron snapped his fingers. "The Patronus!"  
  
"That must be it!" Hermione jumped out of her seat and threw herself around the table, to where Harry barely managed to stand before she was upon him, engulfing him in a huge congratulatory hug. "This is brilliant, Harry. Twelve OWLs, and a mark in Defence that has to be..." she seemed lost for words.  
  
Mrs Weasley was close on her heels, her hesitancy of earlier in the holidays gone as she took Hermione's place as soon as she was able. Ron settled for a giving him a hearty clap on the back, and Ginny shot him a broad smile that seemed to light up the room.  
  
A little later, the three could be found up in Ron's room, discussing their results and what this meant for their final two years at Hogworts. The last they had seen of Mrs Weasley she had been kneeling in front of the fire preparing to let Mr Weasley know the news, while Ginny had retreated again to her room, although whether she was going to tidy it as her mother had requested was anybody's guess.  
  
Harry sat on the small bed he had been using during his stay. Ron and Hermione were sitting on Ron's more conventionally sized and permanent bed. They had been passing their results around for a while, commenting on marks as various things about the exams came back to them, but now all three were thoroughly involved in reading through the rest of their envelopes' contents.  
  
Most of the parchment was made up of leaflets much like those they had looked over in the Easter Holidays, while preparing for their career advise sessions. This time, they were more applicable to each of their individual recipients, having apparently taken classes taken into account.  
  
A small pile of the discarded papers was growing on the floor in between the beds.  
  
'Cultivated Fungus Trader' Harry read on a green tinged pamphlet. He rolled his eyes, scrunched it up and threw it on the pile. It was quickly followed by a cream flyer from Ron, while Hermione seemed to consider the yellow one in her hand before giving a decided shake of her head and sending it off to join the others.  
  
"Hang on- I've got one here for you Harry," Ron said, a serious look on his face. "The _Daily Prophet _is looking for new journalists. I reckon with your experience making up Divination homework you'd be a shoo-in for this."  
  
Harry looked at Ron for a second, blinked, and then both roared with laughter. Hermione picked up the paper from where it had drifted to the ground when Ron had let go to hold onto his sides. She glanced at it consideringly.  
  
"Hermione..." Harry said, noticing. "You don't think that's a good idea do you?"  
  
She placed it on a small pile of parchment to her left where she had been placing all those she was considering.  
  
"What, you want to be the next Rita Skeeter?" Ron asked her.  
  
"Don't be ridiculous," Hermione answered scathingly. "Haven't you heard of 'changing the system from within'? What better way to have the news reported properly than by doing it ourselves? Anyway, the past few years have proven that even when the _Prophet _is printing rubbish it gets out to a huge audience who just lap it up. This could be the way to finally get the plight of House-Elves taken seriously..."  
  
Harry and Ron exchanged glances, not quite believing what they had just been told. Ron opened his mouth, no doubt to start an argument, but Harry cut him off.  
  
"Have you seen one for Auror's yet, Ron? There must be one somewhere here..."  
  
He began to go through the pile at a faster rate and Ron, with a wordless nod joined him. Both had already considered their options on their way up the stairs and still wanted to concentrate on becoming Auror's, even though Ron wasn't sure what chance he had. His Potions score, while a pass did not include an 'O.' Harry who had an 'E' for the practical and an 'O' for the theory was less worried - at least about the getting into the class part. He was still a little uncertain about just how he would get on in class with Snape, especially if things continued as they had been at the end of last year.  
  
"Here it is!" Harry called out at last, nearly at the bottom of the pile on his lap. He picked up the slate coloured paper moments before Ron pulled out an identically coloured paper from his own pile. Quickly he read the contents, which were little different to the similar paper he had read at Easter. A minimum of five NEWTs, all with at least a grade of Exceeds Expectations. It would not be easy. At least it didn't specify five mandatory subjects, allowing some flexibility.  
  
Ron looked up, relieved.  
  
"No Snape, no Potions, and I'm still in with a chance."  
  
Harry grimaced at the mention of Snape. "I'm taking Potions. I'm not going to make that essay I slaved over be for nothing. Plus I want to keep to what McGonagall said as much as possible."  
  
Hermione, by this time had almost reached the bottom of her own pile. She was frowning at the final sheet, and Ron had edged closer so that he could see what had her attention, before groaning. Harry stood up and took a look for himself.  
  
It was a selection sheet for the subjects they wanted to study for the NEWTs. Harry sat back down and discarding the rest of the career pamphlets took out his own selection sheet.  
  
At the top it gave the date that it was expected to be sent in. Tomorrow. None of them was happy at the hurried decision that they were being forced to make.  
  
Hermione spread out her selected career pamphlets and considered them as she looked back at the selection sheet, trying to decide what to keep and what to drop. Harry suspected that in the end it would be a miracle if she dropped anything at all.  
  
Ron, in making room for Hermione's pamphlets sheets, had been forced to join Harry on the smaller bed. Together they decided to continue with Care of Magical Creatures, which both agreed would be useful, especially considering the dangerous creatures that the invariably came into contact with each year with Hagrid. It would all be useful in a career as an Auror. Additionally both decided to continue with Charms, Defence and Transfiguration, three of the four recommended by McGonagall, and Herbology, which they both agreed might can in handy. Harry, as he had previously decided marked down that he intended to continue with Potions. That would give him six subjects, one more than required. With any luck even if he didn't manage to get high enough marks in one class, he would still have the other five to get him considered.  
  
Frowning at his sheet, Ron seemed torn between picking a sixth class like Harry to have as a backup, or just leaving it at that. Harry, looking over at Ron's sheet saw that the only other class he could chose was History of Magic. He wasn't to surprised when Ron threw down his quill and declared that he was finished.  
  
Hermione looked up from where she was busily marking her own selections. "What have you picked?" she asked them. She looked over their selections, looking mostly approving at what they had chosen. "Ron," she queried at last, "why don't you do history? Your mark was good enough and knowing what has happened in the past can be useful for an Auror too."  
  
"No way, Hermione. The only real use Binn's class has is for catching up on sleep. I can think of heaps of better things to do than dying of boredom, listening to him drone on and on."  
  
Hermione seemed ready to argue the point, but at the last second something checked her. She turned back to her own sheet, making her last few selections.  
  
"I'm going to continue-" she began.  
  
"With everything, we know Hermione." Ron cut in.  
  
"Actually no. I'm dropping Astronomy." Hermione looked at them as if daring them to comment. For once even Ron managed to hold his tongue, but Harry knew that his friend was as glad as he himself was. Nine classes was more than enough for anyone.

-------------------------

Following the pattern of one thing happening on top of another, the next day their Hogwarts letters arrived.  
  
Mrs Weasley could not hide her disappointment when Ginny's envelope failed to produce a prefect badge, although Ginny did not look too worried. Harry suspected that she was in fact relieved. Ron looked a little put out.  
  
Harry looked at his letter.  
  
_Dear Mr Potter_, it began as usual. It continued on with the information that the first day of school would be the first of September, and that the Hogwarts Express would be leaving Kings Cross from platform nine and three- quarters at eleven sharp.  
  
The booklist that accompanied the letter was the longest that Harry had every seen. He was relieved to see that he did not in fact need to get all the books it listed. It had in fact, the books required for all the classes that were being offered at NEWT level. A note at the bottom instructed students to only get the books that he or she needed for the classes he or she had selected to study. Harry, looked over the list and was even more relieved to see that he had nearly all the books he needed already. It was a good thing too, as he wasn't sure how much more his trunk would be able to carry.  
  
"Well," Mrs Weasley said to the four after their Hogwarts letters had been finished and the lists of what they needed considered. "I'll get in contact with the Order. I think we can arrange for a trip to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get all the new things you all need."  
  
All four cheered aloud. Diagon Alley had been denied them much to long.  
  
Harry could barely wait.  
  
He had really been looking forward to going to Diagon Alley, sure that he would get to go there at least once this summer. He could still remember with fondness his sojourn there in the summer before third year, and his disappointment last summer when it had been deemed 'unsafe' for him and his friends to go.

-------------------------

When Harry fell out of the fireplace into the Leaky Cauldron, with his usual lack of Floo network exiting grace, he was shocked at the sight of those waiting for him. Even beneath his excitement, he had understood that the Order would have members other than Mrs Weasley present - he had been told so the day before. He hadn't been counting on this though. In addition to his Order guard - Moody and Mundungus under Invisibility cloaks; Tonks, tall and stern with iron grey hair and severe black robes, only giving herself away with her mischievous grin on Harry's exit; and Lupin looking much like his usual worn self, who walking along openly to stand on Harry's right - Harry was being forced to suffer an honour guard at the Ministry's insistence. Twenty Aurors surrounded Harry and his friends, and once they had started off, a further ten roamed ahead and behind the main group, checking out stores they intended to visit, and making sure that the public kept their distance.  
  
Harry hated it.  
  
It was good that he wasn't being approached left right and centre by people who thought they knew him because they had read about him, but it wasn't good that all this fuss just brought more attention to him. Attention Harry had never wanted regardless of what the prophet had been saying last year.  
  
They went first to Gringotts, where Harry had a difficult time convincing his guard that Lupin would be quite enough to protect him from his own vault. The day got worse from there.  
  
At Flourish and Blotts, the shop was forcibly emptied of it's customers. This lead to an angrily muttering crowd outside while Harry grabbed the few books he needed, some new stationary supplies and waited impatiently for the others to finish scurrying around gathering the what books and things they needed.  
  
By the time they had visited an Apothecary to replenish Potions supplies, the Magical Menagerie to pick up some treat for their respective pets and Madam Malkins to buy new school robes Harry was developing a headache. Although he desperately wanted to, he did not go into Quality Quidditch Supplies, when Ron and Ginny went. He knew that the other people in Diagon Alley were already annoyed enough at being forced to remove themselves from shops he needed to visit. The last thing he wanted was a riot breaking out because one of the most popular store in the Alley was denied them, so he sat outside with Hermione, wishing for the umpteenth time since his introduction the magical world that he was not the Boy-Who-Lived.  
  
There was one place however, that he was determined to visit regardless of what anyone said or thought. Ron, Ginny and Hermione were just as excited, as they had yet to visit this shop as well. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.  
  
Fred and George, as if in anticipation of their visit had shut up their shop for the afternoon. This meant that there was no-one for the Auror's to chuck out and push about.  
  
Grinning, the twins gave everyone a whirlwind tour of their shop before setting them free to wander as they willed. Most of the Auror's were stationed around the outside of the building, and the few who were inside were quickly distracted by the colourful and noisy displays that were everywhere Harry looked. The twins pulled Harry aside and toward a door marked 'employees only.'  
  
Making sure that no one was watching they pulled open the door and all three went through, closing it quietly behind them. The twin turned to Harry looking proud.  
  
"What do you think, Harry?"  
  
"Money well spent?"  
  
Harry laughed. "It's fantastic, better than I even thought it would be!"  
  
He looked around the room that had entered. It was well ordered, and the majority of the space was given over to a machine that Harry immediately went to inspect. The twins followed.  
  
"It's our new venture, Harry," Fred said gesturing at the device.  
  
"We were waiting for this to tell you about it." George moved off to the side and over to a pile of books that Harry had not noticed until that point. He picked up the top one, gave it a cursory and entirely unnecessary dust with his hand and gave it to Harry.  
  
"It's called _So You Want to be a Chameleon_," Fred supplied helpfully.  
  
"Straight off the presses of out new subsidiary, Tricky Books."  
  
"And we think you'll find it useful-"  
  
"-especially with the DA."  
  
Harry frowned at the mention of the DA, wondering who had blabbed when he had specifically asked that no one be told that it would still be running. He put it behind him when the twins took him back out the main shop and began to ply their trade, giving away a few items to the students, making some sales to the Aurors and generally making sure that everyone was having a good time.

-------------------------

Back at the Burrow, glad to finally escape all the staring eyes and whispers, Harry sat in the living room with Remus Lupin. Everyone else had wandered off, citing various reasons, but Harry suspected that they just wanted Harry and Lupin some privacy to talk.  
  
Harry wanted to talk about Sirius, but unsure how to bring the subject up decided to start off with something he was really curious about. "Professor, do you know who will be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts this year?"  
  
Lupin gave him an uninterpretable look. "Yes actually, Harry, I do. Dumbledore secured someone for the position not to long after the holidays started. Not long before you came here I believe. However, I think they're trying to keep your new teachers identity a secret until the school year begins though, so I'm not allowed to tell you."  
  
Harry was a little disappointed.  
  
"Are you looking forward to going back to Hogwarts?"  
  
Harry thought about it for a second. "I guess so. I'm looking forward to seeing what is going to happen with Quidditch, and I'm looking forward to seeing my other friends. I'd probably be looking forward to Defence if I knew who was teaching it." He turned a guileless face to look at the older man.  
  
It didn't work. Lupin just laughed. "You'll have to do better than that if you want to find out."  
  
Harry decided it would probably be best if he changed the subject. "So," he said as he fished around for a topic. "Are you allowed to tell me anything headquarters?"  
  
"Not much, I'm afraid," Lupin told him apologetically. "Meetings, pa- I mean planning, and Sirius' mother ranting away at us at every opportunity."  
  
"You never managed to get rid of her?"  
  
"We tried every magical method we knew; no luck."  
  
"Magical? Did you try any Muggle methods?"  
  
"You mean just pulling it off by hand, or levering it off? Of course we tried!"  
  
"No. I mean... the portrait, it's just paint, right?"  
  
"Yes, plus the spell which links it to the subject and allows it to interact as much as possible with its environment," Lupin shook his head ruefully. "I really wish a counter-spell for that one existed. It's proof even to _Finite Incantatem_."  
  
Harry thought about this. Then he remembered something. "Dudley used to paint. Aunt Petunia reckoned he was quite the artist but even she drew the line when he painted all over the furniture. Made me clean it off. You should try mineral turpentine. Works a treat on ordinary paint. Can't hurt to try anyway."  
  
Lupin looked interested. "It removes the paint? That might do the trick. It's not magical, so it won't be affected by any of the magical barriers... It might just work." He stood up and hurried over to the fireplace.  
  
Harry wondered just what Mrs Black had been saying that Lupin was preparing to leave without saying good-bye.  
  
"I'll tell the others you've gone then, will I?"  
  
Lupin looked back to him a little distractedly. "Yes, sorry Harry, I had meant to talk with you more but this could be very important. I'll let you know if it works." He drew his wand, turned so that Harry couldn't see what he was doing, and must have cast a spell. The fireplace glowed briefly, much as it had earlier that morning when Mrs Weasley had done the same before they had Flooed to Diagon Alley. Lupin grabbed a handful of Floo powder, threw it on the fire that had started as the glow faded and said clearly "Number Twelve Grimmauld Place." Then he stepped into the flames and with a flash, vanished.  
  
Harry ran into the kitchen to let Mrs Weasley know what had happened.

-------------------------

Later that night, Harry was sitting in the living room, trying to work out just how he could broach the subject of his godfather the next time he saw Lupin. So deep in though was he, that the first he knew of anyone else in the room was his name being called, and apparently not for the first time, from right behind him.  
  
Startled, Harry turned around and there was Ginny. He shivered slightly and noticed that she was frowning.  
  
"What?" he asked as in as light-hearted a tone as he could muster.  
  
"Harry, I need to ask you something, and I need you to give me a real answer. What-"  
  
Bloody hell, Harry thought, she's noticed. Somehow he just knew that if he let her she was going to ask him about why he had been so jumpy about her all summer. He cut her off hurriedly. "Ginny, I'll tell you. I swear. Just not now. I can't yet."  
  
The thought of talking about his possession threatened to tear away his hard won control. He was only just stopping himself from panicking. He knew he would tell some people eventually, and it probably would include her, as he _did _want to check up with her own experiences. He just needed to be a little more prepared, a little more... distant from the event.  
  
Something of what he was feeling must have showed in his face as Ginny nodded slowly to his words, accepting them.  
  
"Make sure that you do," she said seriously before lightening up. "In the meantime, how about a game of Exploding Snap?"

-------------------------

_Shall I Shut Up Now?_

_A/N: Here is the bit where I justify the way I have arranged their marks. First of all I should mention that I have heard that apparently the most OWLs you can get is twelve, but the only way I could figure this to work is if someone passed in all twelve of the available classes. We know that Percy got twelve OWLs, but we also know that Hermione tried to do all of the classes during her third year and nearly went mad under the strain, before dropping a couple, so I have dismissed this theory for now, and have gone along with the 'they get an OWL for each test they take' theory. Meaning that there are a potential eighteen OWLs that can be earned. As Hermione didn't take Divination (which only seems to involve a practical test) and Muggle Studies (which I imagine only has a theoretical test) this means that she had the opportunity to earn sixteen, which she did. The faultless mark that Harry got for his practical defence is based on an interesting passage from OotP. I noticed that Sirius said that he thought that he got 'at least' an outstanding, which seemed to indicate that there was a higher mark. There was no other corresponding information, in fact the only other possible mark that was mentioned anywhere was 'troll' which is one, at the other side of the spectrum, and two, much more likely to be made up (look at the source of the information), so I just came up with a mark of my own. I hope that make sense to everyone reading.  
  
If anyone is interested I am working on _So You Want to be a Chameleon _at the moment. If you want me to post it here when it's finished all you have to do is review and let me know.  
  
Next chapter: Will Harry finally spill the beans? Or will he just continue holding his cards close to his chest? Stay tuned to find out. _


	8. Coming Clean

_Disclaimer: All you fan-fic readers know the drill by now. I'm not J.K so obviously I don't own Harry Potter (much as I'd like to), BUT I do own this plot. Well, the bits of it that the voices in my head aren't dictating..._

**Harry Potter and the Time of Trials**

**Chapter 8: Coming Clean**

On his last day at the Burrow, Harry sat down leaning against what he had begun to think of as his tree and relaxed. He closed his eyes and let his tight mental control waver, then fall. Thoughts randomly ran through his consciousness.  
  
No Order member was nearby. For the past week, everyone at the Burrow had been effectively tripping over one at every turn. The presence of the Order members at the Burrow during the last week was something of an enigma. One day, they had just seemed to be there, in and out, day and night. They seemed to have made the Burrow their new headquarters, but no explanation was given as to why, or even what had happened to the Black house on Grimmauld Place.  
  
The only members he knew that Harry had not seen at the Burrow were Dumbledore and Snape.  
  
The attic, where Bill and Charlie had been staying this time had become literally out of bounds, although no one told them; they found out for themselves when Ron came back from trying to talk to his older brothers, wringing his right hand. Harry wondered why everyone was at the Burrow instead of at Grimmauld place, and if his first thought - that it was a change of headquarters - was right. He wondered what it all meant, then put it aside. Chances were, he would find out soon enough. He expected that Dumbledore would want to see him once he arrived at school.  
  
Harry had yet to talk to Lupin about Sirius. It seemed that whenever they had a chance to talk, that there were other, more urgent things to talk about. The weather for example.  
  
He had been meaning to try and bring up the subject earlier today, but when he had gone looking he found that nearly all of the Order members had disappeared; only a couple were still ensconced in the living room, with the door firmly closed and protected by a Imperturbable Charm. Harry knew this because Ginny had checked by chucking a couple of rolled up socks at it not long after the door had closed. Ron who had pulled out an extendable ear he had stashed away, prepared to find out whatever he could if the opportunity presented itself, had been forced to give it up as a lost cause.  
  
Harry's thought's moved on.  
  
Not long after, Ron and Hermione had headed off on a walk, which Harry chose to interpret as them definitely coming closer to pulling their heads out of the ground and understanding how they felt about each other. He wondered if they would become less volatile if they got together, but rapidly dismissed the notion. It was impossible to think of the two of them going a day without some small disagreement.  
  
Fred and George were in Diagon Alley again, as they had been much of the summer, running their shop which had proven a runaway success. The lead up to the new school term had resulted in their biggest sales boom yet, with students stocking up on all the necessities: Canary Creams, Banshee Blowouts, various types of Skiving Snackboxes. They had tried to give Harry what they called his share of the earnings from their shop last week, but he had refused, telling them to do something nice for their younger siblings instead. That night they had brought home a prototype of a wheeze for each of their siblings.  
  
Ron had been presented with a tiny bracelet that the twins told him to put around Pig's leg. Harry had recognised it from twins presentation when he had first arrived at the Burrow. With some trepidation which Harry found unsurprising considering the twins track record, Ron had gone up to his room to fetch Pig and bought him downstairs. Pig, in his usual way had made a great deal of fuss and become over excited at the attention. Nothing could match the dumbfounded on Ron's face when the bracelet had been put on, and all of a sudden there was near silence - unless you counted Pig, who appeared to be in a state of shock for some moments before getting over it. Needless to say, the 'Owl Mute' was Ron's new favourite Wheeze.  
  
Ginny had also received a bracelet. This one Harry hadn't seen before so the twins encouraged him to go and take a closer look. It was then that he, and Ginny, discovered one of it's secrets. It played music whenever Harry was nearby. Seeing Hermione out of the corner of his eye trying to hide a smirk Harry had cornered her later that afternoon. It turned out that she had recognised a couple of the tunes that the bracelet played and had recognised what they were. Love songs. This led Harry to think back to the train ride home at the beginning of summer and Ron's not so subtle attempts to direct Ginny's affections. Harry wondered whether the twins were working with Ron on this one.  
  
It wasn't until later on that night, when Ginny had tried to get it off that the bracelet's other secret had been discovered. It wouldn't.  
  
Harry's internal musings were interrupted by the sound of someone else joining him under the tree. Faintly he could hear strains of _Greensleeves _playing nearby. He cracked open an eye and saw a pair of brown eyes regarding him intently and with a slightly disturbing level of resolution. The jolt her presence inevitably brought was pushed aside with practiced ease as his mental control snapped back on.  
  
"Haven't we done this before?" he asked amiably, while wracking his brain trying to think what she was here for.  
  
Ginny made a great show of looking around before responding. "Where's the shockingly long potions essay this time?" she gave him a half grin before settling herself down more comfortably against the trunk alongside Harry. While waiting for her to continue he noticed that she was moving the cloth she was currently using to muffle the bracelet around, in what Harry was rapidly beginning to identify as a nervous gesture.  
  
Harry watched her face turn more serious as she took a deep breath, and with growing apprehension waited for her to speak again.  
  
"You said later, and this is later, so... what is it?" she asked. Harry hesitated and she plunged on. "That first day you were here. It was me wasn't it, not something to do with your scar." It wasn't a question. She continued on quickly "I noticed how you went white again when you set eyes on me later that night, and then you nearly collapsed again the next day. Even now, every time you see me you jump. It's less noticeable now, but it's still there." She looked at him seriously and expectantly. "What is it?" she prompted again when he didn't immediately begin to answer.  
  
Harry looked at her and suddenly came to an decision, he had promised after all. "Ginny," he said abruptly, "was that really all you can remember about being possessed? Blank periods of time?"  
  
By her reaction Harry guessed that she hadn't been expecting that question. He watched as she took a slow breath and considered his question.  
  
"Pretty much. I mean, there was the waking up to chicken feathers and blood," she shuddered slightly, "and the time with the red paint... but while actually possessed... nothing. I knew that something was definitely up, and I was certain it had something to do with the diary. Why else would I have thrown it away in a place that no one willingly goes?" As she paused Harry noticed her brow furrow in puzzlement. "Which really begs the question, how did you get the diary? What were you doing in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom?"  
  
Harry had the grace to look a little embarrassed. "Would you believe it was all Hermione's idea? We needed somewhere we could get something done that we had to keep secret." Seeing Ginny's face grew more interested Harry continued. "You see, we thought that it had to be Malfoy who was behind everything. So we brewed some Polyjuice potion so that we could get into the Slytherin common room and find out. Ghastly place."  
  
"That would be about the time that Hermione spent all that time in the hospital wing," Ginny caught on. This was apparently one of their adventures that Ginny had not yet been told about.  
  
"Yeah. It seems that Polyjuice only works for changing into other humans. Hermione accidentally used a cat hair." Harry felt an inward flood of relief as the topic went into somewhat safer territory. The relief was unfortunately short-lived.  
  
"But you didn't answer my question. What happened? It can't still be the Christmas scare that's bothering you, so this must have something to do with the Ministry of Magic. What happened after you lost Neville, after you ran after Bellatrix? We were all bundled up a bit later and sent back to Hogwarts, but you weren't with us. What happened?"  
  
Harry thought quickly. On one hand Ginny, as she had so forcefully pointed out at Christmas, was the only other person he knew who had been possessed by Voldemort. On the other, it had been nothing like his own experience, and his own experience touched a little too closely to his other closely kept secret. The one that had once again begun to eat at him as he had finished his holiday work. Still, he concluded, maybe it was time to take a chance.  
  
"It wasn't like that at all." His voice was unconsciously pitched low and Ginny leant closer to catch his words. His eyes clenched shut as he released his hold on the memories. His voice gained a slight quaver as he continued. "I remember everything."

-------------------------

_Shall I shut up now?_

_A/N: Sorry about the short chapter. It was originally a little longer, but I felt that the ending was a little anti-climactic, so cut it to where it now ends. Stay tuned for chapter nine, where they catch the Hogwarts Express, Malfoy makes an appearance (surprise, surprise) and Neville is jubilant with good reason.  
  
For now, review! You know you want to. waves hands in vaguely hypnotic manner Review! Review! Review! _


	9. Meeting on the Hogwarts Express

_Disclaimer: All you fan-fic readers know the drill by now. I'm not J.K so obviously I don't own Harry Potter (much as I'd like to), BUT I do own this plot. Well, the bits of it that the voices in my head aren't dictating..._

**Harry Potter and the Time of Trials**

**Chapter 9: Meeting on the Hogwarts Express**

The entire car trip to the station was accompanied by the rhythmical banging of Ginny trying to break her bracelet off. When she had hopped into the car and next to Harry it had started playing _Endless Love _and apparently enough was enough. Harry really couldn't blame her; it was an awful tune.  
  
Still, they made it to Kings Cross with time to spare. Harry couldn't decide if this was because the twins were no longer going to Hogwarts - although they had promised to be at the station to see them off - or because of the influence of Hermione. She was sharing a room with one of the two Weasleys still attending, and as Harry had noticed with no small amusement, had rather an interesting influence over the other. They still seemed to be dancing around the issue though.  
  
Neville bounded up to them the second they emerged from the barrier. "You'll never guess," he told them. "You'll never guess!! The most fantastic thing has happened! Draco Malfoy has had his prefect badge taken off him! You should have seen him!!! It was almost as good as the bouncing ferret." He stopped to consider his last statement before starting to bob around in excitement again. "Definitely almost as good as the ferret."  
  
Ron joined him in an impromptu dance of joy. Harry wondered if this meant that they did not have to expect their annual encounter with Malfoy on the train, but considering how angry he had been just before the end of term, and how much worse that must be now that he had lost his badge, decided that was unlikely.  
  
Other people, drawn by the noise that the two were making, started to crowd around adding bits of information that they had gathered.  
  
"Did you see his robes?" Lavender asked.  
  
"Not up to his usual standard," Parvati put in. "Almost ragged really."  
  
"I heard from my aunt that they confiscated Malfoy Manor," Susan shared.  
  
"And froze their Gringotts account," Terry added.  
  
"Yeah, that too," Susan agreed.  
  
"What's this we hear-"  
  
"Sweet music to our ears?"  
  
Ginny gave her brothers a particularly dirty look, and moved just far away enough that the music stopped.  
  
"No, no, no, no. Not you Ginny."  
  
"Although your bracelet does sound splendid, doesn't it."  
  
"We mean about Malfoy," Fred clarified.  
  
Most of the group turned to welcome the twins with looks of surprise on their faces.  
  
"You mean you didn't know?" Anthony asked in wonder.  
  
The thought that the twins could be ignorant about anything as big as this was a shock even to Harry. Somehow, he had expected that they would just know.  
  
"Well we are running a business now," George said in mock irritation.  
  
The group continued to talk about holiday news until Mrs Weasley started to fuss about the train being about ready to leave.  
  
Harry pulled George aside in the few moments remaining before the train left.  
  
"I have to ask, is there anyway that Ginny can get that bracelet off? I think it's starting to drive her batty." He didn't mention that it was also getting to him.  
  
George tapped his nose in a knowing manner.  
  
"Of course," he said with a roguish grin, then walked off before Harry could interrogate him any further.

-------------------------

As the train pulled away from Kings Cross, Ron and Hermione left to attend the Prefects meeting. Harry closed the compartment door as they left and turned a content smile to the other occupants.  
  
"What?" Ginny asked curiously.  
  
"We're on the train. The magic ban for the holidays is officially over for the year."  
  
He reached into his sleeve and brought out his wand. Then he tried to twirl it theatrically with his fingers and promptly dropped it.  
  
"Oops," he chuckled as he bent over to pick it up.  
  
Neville, looking amused at Harry's clumsiness indicated one of the seats. "Sit down before you hurt yourself, Harry. So what are you planning then?"  
  
Harry gave him a look but sat down anyway.  
  
"I don't know if it happens every year to you three," he answered, "but every year - without fail - Ron, Hermione and I get a visit from Malfoy and his goons. And as this year he has just had his badge taken-"  
  
Neville interrupted gleefully. "Yeah, he was spitting chips."  
  
"Yes. Well, I figure that he's probably going to come while Ron and Hermione are stuck in the prefect meeting-"  
  
"Need any props?" Ginny interrupted, popping open her trunk to reveal a huge pile of dungbombs.  
  
Harry, grinning like the Cheshire Cat, nodded. "Perfect. They'll be just the thing."  
  
It took a little while to set up. By the time the finishing touches were placed, Harry was a little worried that Ron and Hermione might beat Malfoy in getting there. Laughing a little in anticipation the four sat back to wait and see what would happen.  
  
As it turned out, they didn't have to wait long.  
  
Draco Malfoy flung open the door impetuously. A shadow of a smirk crossed his face, almost as if he knew something Harry did not.  
  
"Potter," he drawled. He looked disdainfully over Harry's companions. "A repeat of last year? Except you've lost Weasel and the Mudblood."  
  
Harry gave him a withering look. "Has it been that long?" he asked. "Have you already forgotten about the meeting on the train?"  
  
"I don't know, Harry," Neville sounded doubtful, but his eyes gave him away. "It was an awfully long time ago, and with him not being a prefect anymore..." Really, Neville seemed to be enjoying Malfoy's reversal of fortune almost too much.  
  
"Was he a prefect?" Luna asked, although Harry was hard pressed to say whether she was joining in the teasing, or genuinely asking.  
  
Shaking her head at her friend, Ginny, apparently unable to stay out of the fun cast the final straw. "And your robes-"  
  
Malfoy's face went a queer pale colour with the exception of two small pink patches on his cheeks. Angrily he snarled, cutting her off and moved to enter the room. Behind him, Harry could now see Crabbe and Goyle looking unusually reluctant to follow. He was a little surprised at this apparent show of wisdom by the two.  
  
Still there was nothing they could have done anyway. As Malfoy stepped into the compartment, looking all set to say something nasty, there was a whoosh of displaced air. The dungbombs proceeded to fly down, bombarding their unwelcome visitor.  
  
Hands flailing in a helpless attempt to protect himself Malfoy tried to back out. "Crabbe! Goyle! Help me," he ordered, but when Harry looked to see what they were doing the corridor was empty. With a cry of rage, Malfoy managed to escape the barrage and fled away toward the back of the train. A stray dungbomb followed him until he managed to close the door between carriages.  
  
Harry, Ginny and Neville looked at each other before dissolving into helpless laughter while Luna looked on blinking a little.  
  
"H-he-" Ginny tried to say.  
  
"And t-they j-just-" Harry managed to get out.  
  
"Brilliant!" Neville summed up when he got his breath back. "Just brilliant."  
  
Getting himself back under control, Harry inhaled deeply and gagged. He wondered how he had missed it before; the flaw in his plan. The whole compartment was filled with the pervading stink of the dungbombs.  
  
Ginny, catching the scent, sprung up and tried to force the window to open. She pulled out her wand when it refused to do so, and pointed at it.  
  
"_Alohomora_!"  
  
Luna grabbed her copy of the new edition of _The Quibbler_, and had started to fan the air, trying to push the stink out of the now open window when all of a sudden she sat back down and retreated behind it. Harry noted, with the surprise of one seeing something for the first time, that it was even the right way up. He looked around to try and work out why she had reacted so and saw Ron and Hermione standing at the door, looking with astonishment at the mess that had accumulated there.  
  
"Ron, Hermione, you just missed Malfoy," Harry called out nasally to them, holding his nose and gesturing for his friends to join them. Ron sniffed, shrugged and bounded across, directing a curious glance at Luna hidden behind the magazine before sitting next to Neville who promptly stopped his own efforts to get rid of the smell and immediately started to retell the events of minutes before. Hermione stepped into the room and wrinkled her nose.  
  
Harry watched with relief as she brought out her wand and with a quick swishy movement cast a spell. "_Aeraticaus_."  
  
Moving to take her own seat, Hermione took a deep satisfied breath. Removing his grip on his own nose, Harry cautiously followed her lead and found that the stink was gone, replaced by a faint lemony aroma. He glanced over at Ron, who shrugged.  
  
"Guess I'm a little too used to it. Scary thought, huh!"  
  
Harry could only smile.  
  
His relaxed moment was short lived. Ginny gave him an encouraging look and he cleared his throat a little nervously, looking around at the people gathered about him. Neville seemed almost finished his description of Malfoy's meeting with the dungbombs for Ron, and was hurrying it along after glancing at Harry. Ginny had reached over and taken _The Quibbler _from Luna, indicating with her head that she should listen to what Harry had to say. Hermione had put aside the book that she had picked up when she had sat down, and after sharing a significant glance with Ron gave her full attention to Harry.  
  
Harry cleared his throat again, wondering why it had suddenly gone so dry. Shifting restlessly in his seat he glanced toward the door, then his friends. Abruptly he stood and pulled his wand out. Pointing it back at the door he cast an _Imperturbable Charm _at it, replaced his wand and sat back down.  
  
Seconds later he jumped up again and looked once more at his friends. All of them had helped him. He caught sight of Ron's arm, revealed because he had discarded his jacket. The scar from his encounter with the brain twisted around much of his arm. While no longer raised and sore looking, it reminded Harry of just how much his friends had risked for his sake. All had risked their lives at the Ministry of Magic. He knew he couldn't keep the rest of the story a secret any longer. Ginny reached out and caught hold of his arm. Silence filled the room for a moment as he looked at her she gave him another encouraging look before releasing him. Harry nodded and sat down once again, taking a deep fortifying breath. Ginny grabbed a Weasley jumper and wrapped it around her arm until the tinny notes of _Eternal Flame _almost disappeared.  
  
"You are the people who stood by me. It's not..." he struggled to find the word he wanted, "...right that I should keep you in the dark. Enough damage has already been caused by people not being told the truth." A bitter edge crept into his voice.  
  
Hermione opened her mouth, probably to ask him to clarify his last statement, but Harry beat her to it.  
  
"Please don't interrupt me. This is hard to say, and I... you need to listen. To understand what happened."  
  
He told them about what had happened after he had left Neville, up until when he was sent back to Hogwarts. It was much easier this time around. Faster even, at first, as he didn't have to order his thoughts as much as he had during the first telling. He explained about his attempt to cast an Unforgivable, about wanting to hurt Bellatrix, to kill her. He went into great detail about the duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort. When he glanced up at Ginny, she gave him an encouraging look, and realising that he had been putting off the event that had scarred him most, he stopped for a second and looked around at the others, trying to gauge what they thought of what he had been revealing to them.  
  
Neville looked shaken, which Harry attributed to the mention of his attempt to cast Crucio. Ron was looking wide-eyed, conflicting emotions of awe and horror fighting for dominance of his features. Hermione was listening intently, and Harry could almost hear the questions she had stored up in her head, fighting to get out. Luna had dropped her spaced out usual expression and was regarding him quite seriously.  
  
A little reassured, Harry drew another slow deep breath and ran his tongue quickly over his dry lips.  
  
"And then he possessed me," he stated simply.  
  
The reaction was explosive.

-------------------------

_Shall I Shut Up Now?_

_A/N: _Endless Love _is by Mariah Carey. I consulted my sisters really bad CD collection until I managed to find something totally cringe-worthy. How the twins came by the song is anybody's guess. The other song mentioned in this chapter is _Eternal Flame _by the Bangles. _

_Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out. As said on the Author page, I've been sucked into the RPGing world and was attacked by a vicious pack of plot bunnies. Hopefully the next chapter will be out in a more reasonable time._

_In the meantime, feel free to review. They remind me that I need to keep updating! ;)_


	10. The Prophecy Revealed

_Disclaimer: All you fan-fic readers know the drill by now. I'm not J.K so obviously I don't own Harry Potter (much as I'd like to), BUT I do own this plot. Well, the bits of it that the voices in my head aren't dictating... _

**Harry Potter and the Time of Trials**

**Chapter 10: The Prophecy Shared**

Ron swore. Neville gave Harry a nervous look, as if unsure whether or not he might still be possessed. Luna declared loudly that Voldemort must have employed a Dipiticus. Harry, all set to ask Luna what exactly a Dipiticus was, didn't even have a chance as Hermione laid in with the questions. He answered a few, but had to stop as the train arrived in Hogsmeade. As they all got up and prepared to disembark, he asked them all to meet him in the Room of Requirement after the feast, stating that there was more. Ginny gave him a startled look, but agreed along with the others - although there was apprehension on a couple of faces - to meet him there.

Harry left the train feeling a little lighter for having shared half of his secret, but mostly he felt hungry. The _Imperturbable Charm_ had made sure that he wasn't overheard, or interrupted while he was telling his story, but it had also meant that they had missed the trolley lady, and thus any of the snacks that he usually bought on the trip.

As the Thestrals drew them closer to Hogwarts, Harry had grew more anxious, more worried about seeing Dumbledore.

Although Order members had been in and out of the Burrow for the entire time he had been there, Dumbledore - and thankfully Snape - had not. Perhaps he had sensed that Harry was not ready to face him again. Harry hadn't actually seen the Headmaster since the revelation of the Prophecy in Dumbledore's office. He knew there was no way of avoiding the Headmaster when he arrived back at school. No one missed the welcoming feast unless something really drastic happened. Plus Harry had felt compelled to attend. Last year the Sorting Hat's annual song had been a warning. Perhaps this year it had something to add, something that Harry needed to know.

* * *

Hermione bit her lip and looked from Harry to Ron. "That's two years in a row that we've been given warnings about working together," she said, sounding worried. 

Harry and Ron shrugged at each other, not really worried. "It's not like anything happened last year," Ron commented in an offhand tone.

"Nothing?"

"Well," Ron seemed to consider the question. "It's not like Umbridge could have been avoided by us getting cosy with the Slytherins. And the Minis-" he cut off mid-word to look behind Harry.

Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up quickly to see who it was.

"Potter," McGonagall said quietly, trying not to take anyone else's attention away from the Hat which was currently sorting an 'Anderson, Erica' into Hufflepuff. "Could you step out of the room for a moment?"

"Ravenclaw!" the hat shouted over 'Baxter, Benjamin'.

"Ah, sure Professor," Harry said, standing. Ron, sitting opposite Harry, shot him a questioning look and he shrugged. Ron returned the shrug and turned back to the sorting where 'Bunting, Felix' had been sorted into Slytherin.

Gryffindor gained 'Chamber, Martin' and 'Ellis, Janice' from the group called while they were walking to the door.

The door creaked as Professor McGonagall opened it, and swung closed behind Harry as Professor Sprout called the next boy to the stool.

* * *

The sorting was finished by the time he managed to get back into the Hall. Harry slipped into his seat and started to listen to the beginning of year speech. 

"The Forbidden Forest is, strangely enough, as its name suggests - forbidden." A few students laughed. Harry didn't. "Also, Mr Filch the caretaker has asked that I advise you all that the list of forbidden objects in Hogwarts has been added to once again." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he looked over his half-moon glasses at the remaining Weasleys. "I believe that it has, in fact, nearly doubled in length. For anyone who would like to consult the entire list, he has kindly attached it to his door, and along the hall. Now," he clapped his hands, "time to eat."

Infinitely relieved that the headmaster had decided not to talk about Voldemort or the events of last year, Harry followed Dumbledore's example and set to taking advantage of the stupendous feast that the house tables were currently groaning under the weight of.

Ron kicked him under the table.

"So?" he prompted.

"She just wanted to talk to me about the work I was doing in the holidays."

It was true. Harry just neglected to mention that she had told him how impressed she had been with the essays he had returned for Transfiguration. She had awarded both with an 'O' and was quite astounded with the dedication he had shown. Ron seemed happy enough with Harry's explanation and if food could be said to quiver with fear, any within reach would have been doing so in the face of his enthusiasm for the meal.

* * *

As the Hogwarts Sorting Feast started to wind down, Harry stood up. He tapped Neville on the shoulder, getting his attention, and gestured for him to follow. Curiosity lighting up his eyes Neville did so unquestioningly; his apprehension from before apparently momentarily forgotten. Harry then gave a nod to Ron and Hermione, who walked over to the new fifth year prefects to make sure they knew what to do. Harry knew they would be along in a moment. Last of all he caught Ginny's attention as he passed her. She sent him an encouraging smile as she quickly wrapped up the conversation she had been engaged in, and headed off for the Ravenclaw table to collect Luna. 

As Harry and Neville hurried toward the door, a shadow swooped down.

"Potter." The oily tones of Professor Snape were unmistakable. "The headmaster has asked that you meet him tomorrow in his office." Without waiting for a reply the professor left amid billowing robes, as quickly as he had come.

Neville looked relieved that Snape had left so easily. "You have no idea how glad I am that I'm not taking Potions anymore," he commented to Harry quietly.

"I'm still taking it," Harry said wryly. "Glutton for punishment, that's me. Although," he added with annoyance, "you'd think he'd have given me the password at least. I can see it now: I'm in the corridor outside Dumbledore's office just making random guesses. At least I've got some practice at that," he laughed. "And I don't expect that this time the greasy git will show up trying to shoo me away."

Neville grinned and moved with Harry up the stairs and to the corridor where the Room of Requirement was located.

Harry thought about what he wanted. _Somewhere quiet and private where he could talk to the others without fear of interruption... not too big... just somewhere comfortable_. He would need that comfort; he wasn't looking forward to this confession.

He walked past the spot once, twice, three times and the door appeared.

"Come on Neville," Harry said, leading the way. He shut the door behind the other boy. "The others will be here soon. It's good that they're not here yet actually. There is something I need to tell you about without them here," he said glancing around his surroundings. The room had done its job well. There was a low table in the middle, surrounded by four comfy armchairs and a high-backed couch.

He grinned as he noticed the Gryffindor hues that dominated the colour scheme.

Picking one of the chairs Harry sat, gesturing for Neville to do the same.

Neville's apprehensive look had made a comeback. He pulled out his wand, apparently trying to put off what Harry had to say. "Did I tell you about my new wand? Seven inches, ash-"

Harry interrupted. "Neville, I really don't have time. They'll be here any moment. Look, just listen. What I'm going to be talking about, it didn't have to be me. There was another. You, Neville. Only things didn't work out that way, or so everyone seems to think anyhow." He cut off as he heard voices on the other side of the door. "Stick around after," he hissed. "I think we're going to need to talk."

Ron came through the door first, closely followed by the other three.

"You didn't start without us, did you?" Ron asked.

"Nah, mate," Harry sat up a little straighter in an effort so as not to appear as if he had recently been imparting secret information. "Just chatting about stuff, waiting for you guys to show up. Neville here has a new wand. Ash, I think you said Neville."

"Yeah," Neville said aping Harry. He seemed happy for the change in topic. "Seven inches and you'll never guess the core. A vine from the Mimbulus mimbletonia!"

"That's nice," Ron said without interest, as he plonked down on the couch. Luna rushed to sit next to him, and an almost comically disappointed expression swept over his face. Hermione, who also looked put out at first, looked like she was hiding a pleased reaction to Ron's and sat down on the nearest armchair to the red headed boy. Ginny, left without any real choice took the final armchair on Harry's other side. As she sat, the tinny notes of another soppy sounding tune started up (Hermione's head shot up, and she grinned widely at Ginny for a second, apparently recognising the music), and with a grimace, she grabbed an impossibly fluffy cushion that had not been there a moment before and shoved it over her wrist.

"So what's this all about?"

"Do you remember the prophecy?" Harry asked them.

"Of course we do," Hermione retorted, a hint of exasperation in her tone.

"Except," Neville put in, his brow furrowing as he began to put two and two together, "I broke it..."

"It wasn't your fault," Harry said earnestly, "there was a lot going on." He stopped for a second to gather his thoughts. "That's not the point though. The point is: I heard it."

"How?" Neville asked in bewilderment. "I was closer and I didn't hear a word."

Ron, who had until this moment been regarding Luna with a slightly disgruntled air, looked over at Harry. "What did it say?" he asked suspiciously, having apparently decided that worrying about the 'how's' was not going to help.

"What happened after you were possessed?" Hermione asked, cannily hitting the nail on the head.

Harry moved back in his seat and leaned down to rest his elbows on his knees.

"Dumbledore," he finally said after a long pause. "He knew. He'd witnessed the prophecy, so he was able to tell me what it was." He fell silent again, sinking into his thoughts as the other five looked at him. After a while – he didn't know exactly how long – there was the sound of someone clearing their throat loudly.

"You can't just leave it there, you realise," Hermione said. "I'll go mad if you do."

The others all nodded, uttering words of agreement with Hermione's statement.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches..." Harry's voice was soft, yet captivating. "Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies..." he repeated the prophecy in exactly the same rhythm as he had heard it, the same rhythm that was burned across his mind. "And the Dark Lord will mark him as an equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not..." he had closed his eyes, and thus missed the unusual occurrence of his friend's eyes flicking up to look at his scar. "And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives..." the sounds of quick intakes of breath didn't faze him as he closed on the end of the prophecy. "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..." Harry's voice trailed off and he reopened his eyes. The others were looking at him in shock; Neville in particular looked rather green. "I like to think of it as one of those 'life-defining moments'," he managed to call up a small grin in complete defiance of atmosphere pervading the room.

"Oh, Harry..."

----------------

_Shall I Shut Up Now?_

_A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I know: I'm a horrible, horrible person. But I had the worst time trying to write a Sorting Hat song – as you can see I gave up. I used to be quite good at poetry and all that a few years ago, except of course I didn't really go in for the rhyming type, so I have no idea why I found it hard... I just did. Anyhow, I should be getting more regular with the updates again now. Also I recently got a new Beta (I'm posting over at Phoenix Song as well now) so I will be putting up the newly Beta'd chapters as they get done – I think they look much better. For the new one's you'll just have to live with my mistakes for now ;) And now... time to work on RiE..._

_Reviews are the stuff I live on... don't make me go hungry!_

_**Melindaleo**: There was actually another clue in chapter nine about the bracelet. I think I may have been a little subtle though; even my usual test subject couldn't pick it until I highlighted it for her..._

_**Wind Whisperer**: --ducks and looks around carefully-- Sorry!_

_**MrsSakuraPotter**: I used Cold Chisel to ward off Mariah. The Peppers would have been choice no. 2..._

_**evanescence2037**: Are you the same evanescence2037 as the one at PS?_


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